24: Reign of Terror
by Celtazar
Summary: "If time is represented by an hourglass, then history must be a desert, and it takes some digging to discover the dark secrets people keep hidden." - Unknown
1. Chapter 1

Part 1: Shadow of War

The following takes place between 4 A.M. and 5 A.M.

Events occur in real time.

A heavy cloak, darker than the night's sky above, covered his body like a shroud of pure darkness. An equally black hood and veil covered his head and shielded much of his face from prying eyes. Two sharp eyes of icicle blue stared out from beneath the cloak, the pupils constantly moving to scan the surrounding environment, taking in all the information they could. Though it was three hours before dawn and no moon hovered above to offer its light, the silent figure continued to silently stare and scan his surroundings. The perch upon which he was mounted was just one rock formation of many that made up the large ridges that cut through the constantly shifting sands of the desert in which he now dwelled. The billions and trillions of tiny sand particles moved to and fro with the wind, obeying its beck and call as it carried the particles across the ground. Sometimes, the sand would un-expectantly jump to the head of the silent figure. With practiced agility and coordination, his left hand shot up to block the oncoming sand. Just as quickly as the hand came up to deflect the distracting particles, it fell down to its original position. Those two eyes of deep icicle blue never moved. That is, they never stopped scanning the surrounding environment.

The desert was a jungle in itself with as many dangers and surprises. As the silent figure continued to scan the environment, he mentally took note of all he saw. His well practiced mind recorded and studied all of the data that came in through his eyes. He dared not blink lest he miss an important clue. On the sands below him, a colony of sandile was moving across the sands. Even though their eyes were naturally in tuned with the natural goings-on of the desert, they were obviously unaware of the presence of the cloaked figure above them. A smile crept across the hidden features of the silent figure's face. Good, he thought to himself. If even the sandile do not notice me, then no human could. And yet, he continued to scan the desert. Several maractus had implanted their feet into the desert floor in possibly the hopes of finding nutrients. Two darumaka fought over morsels of food. An oasis nearby stood still and seemingly undisturbed. But the dark figure's practiced eyes knew of the multiple basculin that dwelled beneath the surface of the water, only barely living in coexistence with each other. A large crustle led and family of dwebble through the desert looking for a new breeding ground. Despite the desert being one of the most inhospitable places on earth, the colder temperatures of the night brought many of the pokemon out for them to explore their homeland in a way they could never do during the scorching hot hours of the day. The desert was a testing ground in itself. Only the best knew how to master it, learn its secrets, and then put that knowledge into practice to survive. It reminded the lone man of his own homeland far away.

The dark figure's eyes constantly were drawn up to the horizon beyond the desert. Multiple bright lights flickered on the horizon. From multiple scouting missions prior to the present one now, the dark figure knew of the large city that dominated the tip of the large peninsula in this land. Castelia City. If all went well, maybe tonight would be the night for a new adventure. In the meantime, his eyes continued to scan the desert floor below. There. He saw it. A lone pokemon sprinted and leapt across the desert with well-practiced ease that not even the best runners in the world knew of. The pokemon's twin feet contacted the ground in the rhythmic motion of running, Desert dunes and rocks flew by this pokemon as it continued to run. Dwebble ran fast for cover and the maractus quickly removed their feet from the desert floor to flee. The dark figure atop the rocks watched the pokemon run closer and closer. At this range, now he could make out some of the features.

The pokemon was blue and black bipedal. Yellow fur dominated its chest, and its head resembled that of a jackal, with two ears atop that he could tell were taking in every noise for signs of danger. Four black oval sphere shapes were raised and steady. Silver spikes protruded from the pokemon's paws and chest. It's large and muscular legs carried it with the grace of suicune on water. As normal, the pokemon's eyes were fast shut to block any stray sand. In this untamed land called a desert, only a fool would journey with both eyes wide open.

The dark figure smiled again from behind the black veil that covered the lower part of his face except his eyes, which continued to watch the lone pokemon approach closer. Lucario had always been a dear friend and companion. No one had ever met a more powerful or capable lucario in all their years. The two had been through thick and thin and everything in between together. And to think, the lone figure thought to himself, I've never even caught it.

At long last, the lucario came to a halt below where the lone figure sat. Without opening its eyes, the lucario angled its head and "looked" straight at the lone figure who in return, stared back. Despite the fact that this night reunion wasn't between trainer and pokemon, the two held an odd telepathic communication with which they used with great success.

"The forest of steel is clear, master." Lucario started off first. "I scouted every street and alleyway, both day and night to find that no one of our immediate concern dwelled within the forest of steel."

The lone figure slowly nodded his head. "Thank you, lucario. Return to the rendezvous point and wait for me there. I will alert our contact."

The lucario faithfully nodded and took off again across the desert. Despite the most important piece of conversation done, the two continued to transmit information and memories to each other across the telepathic link. With such training and learning, the two could hold up the link easily over many miles. In the few minutes it took lucario to span those many miles to the rendezvous point, they had transmitted every last bit of data and memory they had. The lone figure looked though the information carefully like one would scan through the files on a computer. Each memory and every sighting that lucario had while within Castelia City, he studied to great detail. Every person that lucario had seen, he looked at carefully, looking for possible clues that lucario might have missed that could hint that enemies waited within the city.

Many minutes passed as he mentally studied the information. Finally satisfied that lucario was fairly certain the city was safe, he reached up to his right ear and touched a button of the communication device shoved into his ear. Number already dialed, he had only to wait for his contact to pick up the phone. A click answered his wishes and he heard two long beeps and a short one. Good. The line was secure. He spoke into the microphone close to mouth. "I'm coming in tomorrow."

"Are you certain?" said the voice on the other end. "The city might not be safe yet."

"I'm not waiting another day. Do you have what I need?"

"Under lock and key as usual. When can I expect you?"

"Remember that your company has an important business contract to write up with another company. The meeting has to go quickly."

A sigh could be heard on the other end. Obviously, his contact was tired of the lone figure's constant metaphors and phrases that meant seemingly nothing. "Very well. I need the business deal to go through."

"I need it to go through too. We all do."

"Very well. See you tomorrow."

The lone figure touched the button on the device again to shut off communication. The call had lasted less than thirty seconds; too short for anyone to track. Standing, he jumped off the rocks and onto the sand below. Immediately, he started running to the oasis. The silt and dirt covered water could still hold a mirror reflection. Perfect. He reached his right hand to his left bicep. Under the cloak there, his hand met a device that had seen better days. But it would still work. Tapping the device, he felt a wave of electrical energy traveling down and inside his left arm to a central point on the palm of his hand. Once there, a device glowed and released multiple pulses of energy at the oasis. Upon contact with the reflection in the water, it opened into what appeared like the eye of a black hurricane. A perfect portal. Looking left and right, the lone figure caught sight of an overly curious dwebble sitting on the shore staring. He nodded his head at the pokemon and jumped into the portal. Once gone, the portal closed, leaving behind the desert, the oasis, and the pokemon.

4:14:57

4:14:58

4:14:59

4:15:00

Far away, atop a high mountain top, a mass of steel and concrete dominates the peak like a crown. No mountain path leads to the massive fortress from below. Around the outer perimeter of the crown, numerous helipads offered the only route away from the castle, aside from someone flying on a pokemon. Tonight however, no helicopters were flying, and the only pokemon to be seen in flight were those of the scouts located all around the fortress. Every precaution had been taken to ensure the security of the fortress. No one could get within ten miles of it without being seen. Even tiny joltiks which scurried on the ground found it hard to move about unseen by the trained scouts above. Infrared and night vision cameras swept the entire landscape, revealing more to the occupants of the castle than any human in the daylight would be aware of.

A single helicopter cut through the sky in its course to the castle. The helicopter was of a pitch black and deep dark blue hue, held aloft by two rotors on the port and starboard sides. Two pilots in the cockpit communicated with the flight control tower in the castle. "Chopper 3-127 on approach."

"Roger that chopper 3-127. You're clear for entry. Proceed to helipad Alpha 3."

"Understood. Out."

The chopper cut through the air on approach. Helipad Alpha 3 lit up with red lights on the edges and four big white beam lights lighting up the center of the pad. The chopper settled above the pad in hover mode. "Chopper 3-127 touching down."

"Roger that. Welcome home."

The chopper glided down with graceful ease and the three rubber tires met the cold hard steel of the helipad. The massive weight of the chopper settled atop the suspension as the twin rotors settled to halt. A sliding door on the starboard side opened, allowing for three men to exit. The man in the middle wore the uniform and ribbons of a high ranked officer. A single suitcase of stainless steel was grasped tightly in his left hand. Two underlings already standing on the helipad saluted with right fists to their chests and then pointed out. Both underlings shouted, "Welcome back to mountain base, naval commander." The officer in return only put his right hand to his chest and, without a single word, proceeded past them escorted by his two guards. Behind him, a single vehicle attached itself to the chopper and proceeded to haul the whole mass off the helipad and onto the bridge that connected it with the castle. A huge iron door denied entrance into the hangar. Bypassing the iron door, the commander and his two guards walked to a different door. A guard standing watch saluted the same as the two underlings on the helipad and used a keycard to open the door. The commander entered and walked down the long corridor.

The castle itself was a massive maze of corridors and elevators. But the commander guided his steps through the maze with the knowledge of one who had on many an occasion walked through the castle's corridors. After navigating through the many pathways, the commander dismissed his guards outside of an elevator and proceeded inside. The elevator had only one floor to access and it traveled there with the unnoticeable speed of a stockcar. The door opened at the top floor, inviting the commander to cross the threshold.

He entered into a large circular room with a domed roof. Multiple desks topped with expensive and sophisticated computer units lined the outer edges of the room in neat circles, only broken by the pathways used by people to navigate their ways to their stations. In the center of the massive room, what appeared to be a huge circular table dominated the floor. It had no chairs, but instead was ringed with multiple computer touch screens that allowed one to control data input on the table and type instruction with virtual keyboards. Within this ring, the top of the "table" was a massive screen displaying a very accurate map of the Unova region. Holograms displayed data above the map for people around the map to study. The map showed everything there was to know about the Unova region. Researching the cities showed real-time population stats. Every train, airplane, car, truck, and boat was constantly tracked and the data displayed here. Every communication that was taking place right now was also displayed above the screen. Looking to his right, the commander spied many computer stations where people worked 24/7 in shifts to monitor these communications and red flag the important ones. From this one table, one could observe the whole world in great detail. A new hologram appeared above Nimbasa City, displaying the number of tickets sold for the football game that was playing tomorrow evening. Another hologram appeared over Mistralton City, displaying data about flights, pilots, and everything in between. Apparently, one of the pilots that were due to fly today was sick with a high fever and had been admitted into the hospitable. His replacement was a seasoned pilot named Jake McConnell and he had just arrived at the airport on time, checked in with his keycard, and was just now starting his preflight check. The commander smiled. The whole table was absolutely marvelous.

Standing around the table, about a dozen different commanders from a dozen different departments and with different responsibilities crowded around the gigantic table and went about their business. Almost all had communication devices shoved into their ears which they talked through to whoever. Fingers flew across the multiple touch screens as commands and data were inputted and relayed to other stations. The commands from the multiple commanders were varied and seemingly random. But each, the naval commander knew, served a purpose in the overall plan. "Units three and four, move to target zone Foxtrot 37 and await further instructions." "Chopper 3-7, change course and vector to heading 37-890 by 53-228." "Naval units Echo 5 and Echo 7, rendezvous at rally point Golf and don't disturb the locals."

The command just given to naval units fell upon the focused ears of the naval commander. He stepped closer to the screen on the "Eastern" side of Unova. There colored in dark blue and identified by a hologram sign was Undella Bay. He had personally led the operation that had secured the bay without alerting anyone. Many symbols in the bay moved about. Obviously, it was a lively 4:20 A.M. on the Eastern seaboard.

Moving around to the "southern" side of Unova, the naval commander pulled what appeared to be thin glass octagon from his pocket and set it on the dark blue water located south of Castelia City. Once placed, he accessed the touchscreen below him and input the information. Once confirmed, the screen displayed a large fleet of naval units south of Castelia City. On command, a bright red line flew over the screen and connected the southern, southeastern, and eastern naval fleets. A digitized voice from the computer said, "Naval blockade successfully established." The naval commander retrieved the glass octagon, leaving behind the naval unit symbols and returned it to his pocket.

The news of the established naval blockade fell upon deaf ears as everyone was focused on the tasks that they had yet to accomplish. However, one man noticed and he walked around the table to the naval commander. Holding a hand out to invite a handshake, the man was refused as the naval commander offered the customary salute of an underling. The higher commander returned the salute with his. The naval commander set his suitcase onto the table and opened it. Reaching inside, he pulled out a flash drive and closed the suitcase.

"Here's my complete report on the situation of the southern naval blockade."

"Excellent. But give me the basic report verbally."

The naval commander nodded. Gesturing to the huge screen, he pointed out symbols while saying, "The fleets are split into four groups and are submerged, away from prying eyes. The fourth group on the far right covers the Eastern peninsula and gives support to the south eastern blockade. The other three groups are too far from the coastline to give anyone suspicion or need for alarm, but close enough to watch the coasts for any suspicious activity."

The higher commander nodded and studied the screen. "A lot of resources have been expended into this naval blockade. It had better be worth it."

The naval commander nodded vigorously. "It will be sir. With this naval blockade, you now have a stepping stone to controlling the entire Eastern Peninsula of Unova. Not only that, but these naval units can be utilized into sailing upriver and controlling the two rivers that cut through the middle of Unova. All of Unova can be cut into thirds at your command."

"And with the air force units attached to the naval blockade…?"

"With them, we control double the land and all of the airspace."

"Excellent. Then I have a new task for you." The higher commander gestured to a soldier waiting at the edge of the room. "Unova region intelligence has reason to suspect that the primary will be arriving in Castelia city today."

The naval commander stepped back with a look of shock plastered on his face. "Today, sir?"

"Yes. This morning in fact. I want you to find him with this piece of technology." The soldier who had been signaled arrived with a very large suitcase in hand. Once opened, the suitcase revealed what appeared to be a radar gun inside.

The naval commander raised an eyebrow. "You want me to make sure the primary doesn't speed while he's sneaking through the streets of Castelia?"

"Not quite. What appears to be a radar gun to you is actually an illusion detector. This device reveals and maps out illusions and displays them on the screen. With this, you will not only be able to find illusions, but also will be able to see what the illusion is or isn't hiding. This technology has already been dispatched to the air force and to the eastern and south eastern blockades. That leaves just your fleet. There are four cargo choppers waiting for you to escort back to your fleet with the technology aboard. With it, I want you to find and take out the primary when he arrives in Castelia City."

His explanation appeared akin to a fairytale to the naval commander. The high commander noticed the other commander's uncertainty. "Try it out. Point it at me and activate the device." The naval commander did as commanded. The screen on the back of the "radar gun" displayed a blue field with the people showing up as blobs of yellow. The high commander in front of the gun however, appeared as a blob of red. The gun's computer communicated, "Illusion detected."

Th naval commander smirked. "You're not really here."

A voice spoke loud from the outskirts of the room. "I am. You just don't know where to look." The illusion in front of the naval commander dissolved and the commander turned to face the real commander who was approaching from the side. "You see," he said with a disconcerting grin. "It works."

It sounded almost too good to be true. The primary had always relied on illusion to hide from prying eyes. Now if this technology could in fact detect and reveal illusions, then the primary could hide no more. He was as good as dead. "How shall I take the primary out?"

"However you see fit. Tear apart Castelia City if you have to."

The naval commander nodded. Taking the radar gun in one hand and his suitcase in the other, he walked out of the domed room. Soon after, five choppers took off from the mountaintop castle and flew south east. No one was any the wiser. Only the watchful sentries knew of the helicopters and their course.

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In the reverse world, time didn't run normally. I found that out as soon as I emerged from the portal and into the familiar grounds of the reverse world. The timekeeper on my left arm suddenly went screwy and couldn't show an accurate time. Without time zones, any watch in the reverse world was lost. Even with time zones, keeping time in the reverse world wouldn't be easy. In some parts, time slowed down or sped up or even stopped completely. It was weird, but it really didn't matter to me. I had enough experience in the reverse world to figure out all of the quirks to the place. As soon as the portal I had just emerged from closed, I studied my surroundings as carefully as I did in the desert. Given that this part of the reverse world was a distorted view of the desert I had just escaped, I saw huge spiraling clouds of sand rising in never ending pillars. Not a bit of plant life was to be found in this part of the reverse world. It was as barren as the world it mirrored. Faraway, I saw the distorted view of Castelia city. Confident that I was truly alone in the reverse world and with no one watching me, I ran to Castelia. Normal gravity gave way to low gravity and I found my travel time to be most relaxing to say the least.

My name is Malik. I am a pokemon trainer, one of the few known as assassins. Not to say that I kill people, although I am perfectly capable. Assassin defines my fighting style. I opt for speed and attack, with defense as only an added bonus. Skill and strategy, combined with speed and strength, brought my enemies low. Aside from being an assassin, I am also an Aura Guardian, again one of the few to remain in the world.

Although I heir from Sinnoh, my present journey takes me into the heart of the Unova region, a land where I have been finding that there is more than meets the eyes. My reasons for coming here however are of a very different, unique, and dangerous nature. My reasons for sneaking into Castelia City are also as dangerous in nature. I had lived in Sinnoh through the reign of Team Galactic's political takeover, but that was nursery school compared to what I faced right now. This is my story of what I faced in the Unova region.

Low gravity gave way once again to normal gravity and I found myself in the reverse Castelia city. The towers spiraled around each other like vines on wire. It was weird I thought. I wondered who was in charge of what the reverse world looked like. Personally, I would have thought that the reverse version of Castelia would look like the city's reflection in the water. But no one ever asked my opinion.

Speaking of water, columns of it stretched up and down in the reverse world. The water swirled in an easy pace, meaning that all was fine with it back in the real world. Walking through the distorted city, I noticed many bubbles showing many different parts of the reality city to me. Knowing that by popping the bubbles would cause a great disturbance in the real world, I steered clear of them. I looked around, trying to find a place where I could create a portal back into the reality world. The device attached to my whole left arm and hidden by my black cloak was actually designed for that purpose among other things. I didn't fully understand how it worked. The technology was older and more sophisticated than I could tell, possibly from an ancient civilization that could travel to and from the reverse world at will.

At last, I spied a place where I could travel back to the reality world. The panel that I spied looked like it had the consistency of mercury, but it would still work. Wherever it led, I would end up in Castelia city. Activating the device on my arm again, I pointed my hand at the panel and shot the pulses of energy combined with the energy of my Aura. Soon, a portal emerged from the panel. Jumping in, I felt the familiar tug on my whole body as if someone had attached fishing lines to my whole body and was tugging with the might of thirty men. I fell out of the reflective surface in the world of reality and landed feet first on a linoleum surface. The portal closed behind me, revealing an everyday bathroom mirror. Studying my surroundings, I found that I was indeed in a bathroom. Much to my dismay however, I found that it was the ladies bathroom. Thankful for the fact that it was still two hours before dawn and no one was in at the time, I sighed and set to work.

Taking a pokeball from inside my cloak, I opened it and allowed the white light to escape. The white energy transformed into a Zoroark who sat on the linoleum floor awaiting instructions. Zoroark resembled a black wolf, with a big mane of red and sharp red claws. Red and black. I liked that combination of colors. "Zoroark, cast an illusion around us. Hide yourself and make me look like a female clerk working late at night." Zoroark nodded and his eyes glowed. Soon, Zoroark had disappeared and I looked different. Studying myself in the mirror, I made sure the disguise would work well. The hair looked frazzled like one who hadn't gone home to comb it. Bags under the eyes gave the impression that I was tired and the work clothes were a bit wrinkled. Excellent.

Walking out of the bathroom and making sure that Zoroark got out too, I found myself in a massive office complex. Giving a quick glance out the window, I found that I was at least thirty stories off the ground. Given the circumstances, I would say that that was a successful infiltration of the city. "Okay Zoroark, make me look like a late night businessman, same parameters." Zoroark did as bidden and I magically looked like a late night clerk, complete with baggy eyes, unkempt hair, and wrinkled clothes. Walking through the office complex, I found the elevator and got in. Pushing the button for the first floor and lobby, I felt the elevator quickly fly down the shaft and then come to a rest at the first floor. Emerging, the first thing to greet me was a person. Another clerk was standing behind a couch, his eyes glued to the TV set hung on the wall. Hearing the elevator door open must have alarmed him to my presence. He looked my way and studied me. "Is that you Bill? I thought you had gone home."

Bill sounded as good a temporary identity as any. "Uh, yeah, it's me. I realized that I had forgotten something and came back to get it."

The other guy nodded and went back to watching the TV. I came alongside him and studied the screen as well. It was Tranquill 4 News, and they were doing a news report on the latest in the Unova region. A blonde haired woman wearing a red blouse on the screen held the attention of the camera as she delivered the latest news. "…and we're still waiting for the updates on that. In other news, the total of terrorist attacks that have taken place in the Unova region has come up to a total of twenty-eight, with the last six in this past month. International news agencies report that similar attacks have taken place in the Sinnoh and Hoenn regions, which have a combined total of thirteen terrorist attacks taking place. International police forces are still unsure as to whether or not the Kanto and Johto regions are in any danger of terrorist attacks. The death toll is well over eight hundred from the terrorist attacks in Unova alone. Police forces are desperate to find out who is behind these constant attacks. As of now, no demands have been made by the terrorists, who appear to be able to slip past every security system and continue to attack at the public." The women paused as a man from off screen appeared and whispered something in her ear. Her facial expressions changed from seriousness to sudden alarm as she listened to the news. More bad news, I was sure. She cleared her throat and looked back at the camera. "We have just learned of a new terrorist attack that has taken place in the heart of Oppelucid City. We have our man on the scene to report on what's going on. Kyle?" I heard the clerk next to me gasp from evident shock.

The screen switched to the view of a blonde and brown haired man standing in front of the charred remains of a city bus. He held a hand to his ear to hear everything from the news station over the roar of the bustle occurring behind him. His left hand grasped a microphone close to his mouth so that we could hear everything he said. The newswoman shouted over the apparent noise, "Kyle, what exactly is happening behind you?"

There was a pause as the newsman, Kyle, heard the transmission and quickly formulated an answer. "Less than five minutes ago, one of the late night busses was transporting people to their early morning jobs when an explosion tore apart the bus while it was stopped at a red light. Police representatives say that causalities should be minimal. But everyone here is in shock after this event. Oppelucid City as you know is famed as the most secure city in all the world with its hi-tech security system. This city has the lowest levels of crime on record. Even during the worst of the terrorist attacks, everyone in Oppelucid City was was confident that they were safe. Now, it's like all hope has shattered for the people of this city."

"How is the regional government reacting to this catastrophe?"

"We haven't had any comment yet from the regional government. But I'm sure they're just as shocked as the populace of Oppelucid City."

"How is the police force hoping to resolve this issue now that it's been proven that Oppelucid security isn't as strong as they hoped?"

"The details right now are sketchy at best. I know that the police are organizing a fully enforced curfew over the city. I also know that mayor Drayden has called for every trainer that can hold his own to look into assisting the police in security."

"Don't you think that is a very radical step forward to security against these terrorist attacks?"

"Well, personally, it makes me uncertain as to whether or not calling in more fighters will make much of a difference. However, according to Drayden, we're all in this together, so we need to fight as such."

"Very well. So it would appear that…"

"Hold on. I'm getting a report on another possible attack in Oppelucid City."

"What! Another attack?"

"Yes. It is confirmed. There was a trio of explosives at the Oppelucid City train station. I repeat, there was a trio of explosives at the Oppelucid City train station. The seventh and eighth terrorist attacks this month have just occurred on the same night in Oppelucid City. I'm on my way to the train station to report on further developments."

The screen switched back to the newswoman. "We will keep you apprised of the situation in Oppelucid City. However, it would appear that we are witnessing the darkest day in Unova history as two more terrorist attacks have taken place."

Whatever else the newswoman said was lost on deaf ears. My companion looked like he was in shock. What the newswoman said was true: this was the darkest day in Unova history. I slowly excused myself and left the other businessman there to mull over his feelings and emotions. I looked back one more time at the other businessman to witness tears falling from his eyes.

4:44:57

4:44:58

4:44:59

4:45:00

I exited the massive steel and concrete structure. The building happened to be on the waterfront, which meant I had a most excellent view of the harbor. To my extreme dismay however, I found that the streets were void of all pedestrians. Even though Castelia City was among the few that did not possess an enforced curfew, not a single soul walked the paved streets. Not a single car traveled down the streets. Since the terrorist attacks had multiplied in number, fear had enforced an unofficial curfew. People no longer traveled out and about as they used to. Almost no one traveled alone these days; for fear that terrorists would kidnap them if they walked alone. Parents no longer allowed their children to be anywhere alone. Day cares throughout the region had actually grown mostly void of children as parents were opting to protect them themselves. If it wasn't for the glimmering lights and the signs of civilization still in the city, I would have thought Castelia City was a ghost town.

Walking alone on those empty streets left me alone to my thoughts. This is how it had all started. The first terrorist attacks occurred six months ago. Back then, terror came in the form of random attackings, robbery, arson, and vandalism. But like a monster reaching maturity, the attacks had grown to terrorize whole cities. The first big one I believe was the attack on Tubeline Bridge. That's when the whole Unova region – and eventually the whole world – learned just how dangerous and capable these terrorists were. Despite Tubeline Bridge being a massive steel structure, nearly indestructible by conventional means, the terrorists opted for unconventional means in the form of multiple Hyper Beams. The bridge broke in several parts. Police managed to close it down and evacuate before many causalities took place. But the terrorists had made their point crystal clear. They were declaring war on the people of Unova and would go to any means to bring about the destruction of the region. Since then, terrorist attacks had grown to a level so frightening; they had changed the face of Unova forever. Other regions had looked on in dismay at the attacks, but were mostly unconcerned because they believed the incidents to be isolated to Unova alone. The twin attacks on Rustboro City in the Hoenn region and Jubilife City in the Sinnoh region changed that forever. Now three regions were at war and under attack. Meanwhile, the remaining two regions, Kanto and Johto, sit nervously while they wait to see if the terrorists will target them next.

Streetlights lit my path and guided my way as I walked along the water front. Waves lapped up against the pier. Boats, both large and tiny sat at anchor, moving gently with the current. Poor Sinnoh, I thought. The people of Sinnoh didn't deserve this after what they had gone through with Team Galactic. Last year, Team Galactic arose from seemingly nowhere and had politically seized control of the Sinnoh region, terrorizing the people, and placing a stranglehold on the region. I had helped push them out of political power, but I knew for a fact that they still existed in Sinnoh as a secret society. I hoped one day that someone would finish their destruction. As for the Sinnoh population, my heart went out to those people. I knew personally of their struggles against evil. Now that they had suffered seven attacks at the hands of the terrorists and were still reeling from the last one – one of great magnitude I remembered – I was desperate to find a way to stop the terrorists.

Turning left onto Narrow Street, I walked up the alleyway. Trash cans lined the sides of the road. Trash and refuse still littered the street. Since no one rarely traveled about these days, no one gave a bother to the cleanliness of certain streets. Startled by my approach, a purrloin ran out from behind a trash can and disappeared into the distance. On the right-hand side of the street, the entrance lit up by two lights, was Café Sonata. Reaching out telepathically, I found lucario sitting in a sniper's position above the Café. "Is all clear inside?"

"Yes master. I counted 14 patrons and the café owner. None have dark intentions. If they do, they are not showing them now. Right now, they are too focused on the magic box to notice anyone."

Either lucario like to speak in metaphors or he couldn't stand the words people used. Lucario continued: "What is going on master? Everybody who is awake at this late hour is alarmed at something."

"Two attacks just took place in Oppelucid City."

I could feel great alarm and shock ringing across the telepathic link from lucario. Interesting. I had seen lucario face down foes larger than himself and yet this was the first time I had felt him so alarmed at anything.

"That's impossible. Oppelucid City is the most secure city in the entire world."

I telepathically transmitted my memories of what I had seen on the TV screen. A moment of silence. Lucario was quiet. Finally, one emotion floated across the link. Remorse. Now I knew that these terrorist attacks were hitting lucario hard. When Team Galactic had politically seized control of the Sinnoh region, lucario was more focused than anyone. I couldn't believe it had come to this, to the point when lucario would feel remorse for these terrorist attacks taking place when he knew as well as I did that work had to be done.

"We need to focus lucario. Now more than ever. Keep an eye on the patrons in the Café."

"Yes master."

"And lucario…"

"What is it master?"

"Oppelucid City has been hit. Despite all of those hi-tech security systems, Oppelucid City has been hit. The terrorists are stepping up their game. It won't be long now. We need to focus."

"Yes master."

Concluding the conversation, I checked my timekeeper. The numbers read 4:55. Plenty of time. I walked in through the door into Café Sonata with my invisible zoroark in tow.

Five choppers had just returned to the submerged fleets. Four of the choppers had broken off and were taking different courses. One continued onward with the lead chopper. The waves of the sea broke open as a massive vessel of steel arose from beneath. With multiple lights and signals, two helipads were revealed to the incoming choppers. Each landed on their respective helipad, and flight crews rushed out to secure the helicopters to the pads. Once the helicopters were secure, hidden hydraulics began lowering the helipads into the belly of the massive sea craft. After the helicopter rotors disappeared from view, massive sliding doors moved and covered the top hatch. Within ten minutes of the choppers arriving, the massive sea craft had submerged into the deep ocean.

Within the sea craft, the naval commander exited his chopper and met his lieutenants, who both saluted him first. The naval commander returned the salute. "Listen closely my faithful lieutenants. I will not repeat myself. The choppers I have returned with are carrying new pieces of technology that are vitally important to the success of our new mission. Make sure that they are installed onto as many UAVs and helicopters as possible. Run diagnostic checks to make absolutely certain that they are working perfectly and to make sure that the bridge can receive real time data from them. Second, I want primary and secondary strike teams ready to launch at a moment's notice. Make sure that the primary strike team is shadow squad."

The lieutenants looked at each other nervously. They must have figured out that whatever this new mission was, it was vitally important. The naval commander continued. "How many of our orbital observation satellites will be in position over Castelia City by 7 A.M. this morning?"

A lieutenant retrieved a touch pad computer from his side and checked real-time data from the bridge. "We will have two over Castelia City sir. One will be in position from 6:12 A.M. to 7:10 A.M. The other will be in position from 6:49 A.M. to 7:47 A.M."

Good. Plenty of coverage. "Run diagnostics and make sure that communications are working fine. I don't want anything going wrong during the op. I want UAVs with the new tech flying over the city at 6:30 and the primary strike team flying off the coast and out of sight at 6:45 until we have confirmation of the target. Keep the secondary strike team in reserve and ready to launch at a moment's notice. Understood?"

"Yes sir!" The lieutenants shouted and ran off to relay orders. The naval commander's first officer walked up.

"Welcome back to the fleet."

"Anything to report?"

"Negative. Status quo."

"Excellent. What's the word from our friends to the north?"

"Two attacks have taken place and the people are reeling from shock to say the least. Police forces have been unable to do anything."

The naval commander smiled a cold smile. All was going according to plan. Unova would soon be on its knees and the rest of the world would follow suit. He was amazed at how well it had all worked. This whole operation that he had been part of since the beginning had lasted over a decade. At last, the pieces were moving forward for the final kill and no one was getting in the way. At last, the war was here. At last, his destiny was being achieved.

4:59:57

4:59:58

4:59:59

5:00:00


	2. Chapter 2

The following takes place between 5:00 A.M. and 6:00 A.M.

A little bell hung atop the door jingled a light-hearted tune as I entered Café Sonata. As lucario had assured me, only fourteen patrons and the owner filled the room. Everyone had taken seat at the counter or at the tables, but all eyes were pinned on the three TV sets attached to the wall behind the counter. The same newswoman in the red blouse and blonde hair I had seen before was still continuing her news report on the situation in Oppelucid City. A picture set on the green screen behind her showed the carnage of a huge building, most likely the Oppelucid City train station. I caught the words of her report floating through the air of the Café as I found a seat at the counter. "…said that first responders were working their hardest to rescue anyone still trapped inside the building." I sat down on one of the stools in front of the owner who, like everyone else, had forgotten their business to watch the TV screens. Noticing me, he started and made a slight bow in my direction. "Would you like anything to drink right now?"

"Ice tea." The owner bowed again slightly and turned, but never retrieved the beverage, as his focus was momentarily taken by the latest report on the TV screen. The screen showed the same newsman reporter from before, Kyle, directly in front of the Oppelucid City train station. Behind him, beam lights illuminated the whole area. First responders and their pokemon were crowding the scene, all doing their part to rescue people from the catastrophe.

Kyle gave his report, though I noticed with a more sorrowful tone in his voice than before at the destroyed bus. "I'm standing here in front of the Oppelucid City train station where the scene is utter chaos. Earlier, a trio of explosions had ripped the whole building to shreds. As you can see behind me, the entire front of the building has caved in from the lack of support and it is thought by experienced architects and bomb squads troopers that the inner sections of the station are nearing collapse. I'm right now standing behind a police barricade that was speedily established, but from here, I still have a perfect view of the aftermath. Almost as soon as the first responders had rallied in force here, the first victims of the attack started appearing. I estimate that at least a hundred people have been injured and I've lost count of the number of body bags that have emerged from the ruins." I suddenly felt like someone had punched me in the gut. I was dazed and confused. Remembering my purpose for being in Oppelucid city, I refocused and continued to watch.

"Kyle, what are the danger facing people right now in Oppelucid City?" asked the newswoman who was off screen at the moment.

"I cannot say what the immediate danger is for people in the rest of the city aside from a third terrorist attack. The most danger facing the people of Oppelucid City right now has to be for the people who are rumored to still be trapped inside the train station and, as I've stated before, are in danger of being crushed by the inevitable collapse of the building. First responders are working as hard as they can to find a safe entrance into the station so as to remove those who are in immediate danger."

"Do we know anything about how these terrorist attacks took place and how the terrorists got past Oppelucid City's security?"

"On that, the police have given me much information. According to video taken by a nearby traffic cam at the first attack, the last person to board the bus kept his head covered and down. The police have him as a main suspect, though it's unclear as to whether or not he survived the first attack or if he's just another punk kid who was paid off to do the job."

Typical. Whoever these terrorists were, they covered their tracks far too well. The police had never gotten close enough to catch any real terrorists. Those they did have in custody were random people who had criminal records. They knew nothing except that these terrorists would either pay them lots of money to get a job done or that the terrorists would hurt someone close to them. Every lead the police had was a dead end. These terrorists were careful not to leave any loose ends lying around that could unravel whatever plans they had.

"As for the second attack, security cameras caught sight of three agents, all of whom entered at different intervals and went to different locations. Moments later and at the same time, the explosions went off. As of this time, it's unclear if the terrorists used pokemon or conventional explosives. No sign of the agents or possible pokemon has been reported as of yet."

"In other words, we have another dead end?"

"I'm afraid so. It's unclear as of this time, but police officials suspect that the security systems of Oppelucid City were hacked so that they couldn't I.D. the threats."

"Is that even possible? I know that Oppelucid City's security systems are the best in the world with multiple firewalls protecting all of the systems. How could these terrorists have hacked through?"

"No one knows. The police are worried that it could happen again. From what they say, they have several people working on possibly rewriting the codes for the firewalls that were breached so that this doesn't happen again in the future. Unfortunately, that could take hours of work."

A loud commotion started happening behind Kyle. He turned and stepped out of the way of the camera shot, allowing us to see the weakening structure. Large pieces of the roof were now glowing as multiple psychic type pokemon were using their unique powers to lift up massive pieces of steel and concrete. Multiple Gothitelle and Beheeyem crowded around the structure as they used their powers. First responders shouted encouragement to the pokemon until with a mighty heave with invisible power, whole sections of the walls and roof flew off and collected in a gigantic pile close by. People all around the camera cheered wildly and the first responders rushed into the building to rescue the survivors. Kyle reappeared on the screen.

"It's a miracle. Dozens of psychic type poemon have cleared out enough obstacles for the first responders to rush in to the rescue. Now with no heavyweight roof above, the risk of collapse has finally passed and we can all breathe a sigh of relief."

People in the Café started clapping. The owner breathed a deep sigh of relief and finally retrieved my glass of ice tea. After handing me the glass, He leaned on the counter. "Hard to imagine that our fair Unova could succumb to such awful attacks."

I nodded and sipped the ice tea. The bartender continued. "I remembered where I was when the attack on Tubeline bridge took place. I was here, and we were having a special of cherry pie for customers. Then when those scenes came up on the TV, it was like the whole day grew dark. I've never been in a country at war. These have always been times of peace. How are you supposed to react when you see your entire world crumble all around you?"

I figured he wanted a genuine answer. Clearing my throat, I answered, "I don't know. I guess you keep your head up and move forward, knowing that no matter what, things will get better."

The bartender mentally mulled that thought over. "The problem with that is that its been six months. So many people have died. Can I tell you something?"

I nodded. "Sure."

"I'm scared. I'm really frightened. This isn't some simple crime organization that's mugging people on the streets. This is a group of powerful individuals who have declared war on the world. Seeing what they've done and how they've done it, it looks to me like they've been preparing for this for years. What other explanation could there be for all of this?"

I stared down at the counter as I contemplated that fact. It was always my suspicion that these terrorists had prepared for years. These attacks on the most secure city in the world only confirmed my suspicions. Only a foe who had been preparing for years in advance could have down this. Looking back at the screen, my eyes caught what my heart feared and my mind repulsed at. First responders were just now emerging from the rubble carrying the wounded on stretchers and the dead in body bags. To my dismay, the wounded vastly outnumbered the dead, but the dead still numbered in the scores. Everybody in the room finally figured out what they were seeing on the TV screens. As body bag after body bag appeared from the rubble, once applauding audiences grew silent and remorseful. Everyone at the scene of the catastrophe was quiet. No one knew what words were appropriate to speak at this moment. I and the Café owner were at a loss for words to say. Nothing to say seemed the most appropriate response to this catastrophe.

Kyle returned to the screen. "As you can see," he started in a mournful tone, "the cost in this attack is dreadfully higher than originally expected. I…I don't know what else to say." For possibly the first time in that news reporter's life, that may have been the truth. No one knew what to say.

I continued to drink my iced tea and the TVs continued to roll images of the aftermath of the recent attack. Suddenly, an alert signal came across the telepathic link between me and lucario. "Master!"

"What is it lucario?" I returned telepathically.

"I believe that you're in danger."

"What gives you that impression?"

"One of the patrons is unusually exhilarated about whatever he's seeing on the magic box. What are you watching?"

"We're seeing body bags being carried out of the rubble of the Oppelucid City train station. Are you saying that one of the patrons is happy about this?"

"Happy isn't the right word master. I'd say the patron is absolutely giddy as you humans put it."

It was worth checking out. "Can you I.D. the patron for me?"

"Affirmative. Caucasian male sitting in the far corner. I sense that he has a cup of coffee on the table and a communication device to his ear. Besides being giddy about the body bags, he's focused on whatever conversation he's undertaking."

I looked around at the other patrons. Within a second, I found him. "Lucario, are you sure that man is the one?"

"Yes master. Why?"

"He's a naval captain. By the insignia on his uniform, I would say he's the captain of the Royal Unova." I didn't know what lucario was thinking, suspecting the captain of the Royal Unova to be a terrorist.

"I don't know how to put this simply master, but he's the one. He's the one who's happy about the latest attack. Can you listen in on his conversation?"

"Not without being noticed." The captain I was watching finished his phone call, took one last sip of his coffee, and stood up to leave. "He's leaving lucario. Track him, just in case."

"Understood master."

The captain left with only a jingle from the doorbell signaling his departure. I returned to my business at the counter, knowing full well that lucario would track the man to wherever he was going. I trusted lucario with almost everything. Ever since we met when he was a tiny riolu in the mountains, we had trained together and lived together. Together, we had learned that we both had the spark of Aura. It sounded strange, but we taught each other about Aura. Lucario taught me how to grasp the power while I taught him how to use it in real-life scenarios. Although no one could legally classify us as Aura Guardians, ten years practicing with Aura gave me and lucario reason to be confident of our unofficial status.

5:19:57

5:19:58

5:19:59

5:20:00

Aura eyesight appeared fuzzy and clear at the same time. Lucario found that he could look farther than the eye could see. The structures of the metal forest appeared cold and hard, people appeared clear white. The target however glowed red. Lucario had the choice to tag certain targets and track them within a ten mile radius. At the moment, the target walked with an odd gait as he marched down Narrow Street towards the water front. On the water front, he walked East on the waterfront. Passing pier after pier, the target finally arrived at the Cruise Ship Dock. The Royal Unova took up the entire one side of the pier. Given that it was a very public location, police officers guarded the whole area. Huge lights lit up every square inch of the pier and ship. The police officers must have known ahead of time that the captain would be arriving this early in the morning and allowed him past.

That was good enough. He telepathically contacted his master. "Master."

"Yes, lucario?"

"The target has boarded the Royal Unova and he has dark intentions."

That was good enough for me. "Understood. I'm on my way."

5:29:57

5:29:58

5:29:59

5:30:00

The ship captain traversed the multiple yards of corridors and passage ways on the massive cruise ship. Arriving at the bridge of the ship, he found one crewman still on guard and two police men standing guard. None of them cared about the captain's entrance. The ship captain stood off to the side and checked his watch. 5:31 it was nearly time. Until that time came, he waited patiently.

The tiny jingling bell alerted my departure. In the midst of Narrow Street, I whispered a command to zoroark and ordered to lucario to join us. When he had, zoroark made us appear invisible to everyone else through crafty illusions. Good, the three of us jogged down Narrow Street and out onto the waterfront. From there, we ran the whole length to the Royal Unova, where guards patrolled and kept watch. Deliberating against marching right through the middle of them, we walked off to the far side. Security was just as high, but fewer lights would allow us to sneak aboard without the guards thinking anything suspicious was up. Standing on the water front, about a hundred feet from the bow of the vessel, lucario made the first move. With a mighty leap and with energy from Aura, lucario leapt the entire distance and landed lightly upon the deck surface. No guards suspected a thing. I jumped next, also relying on the energy from Aura to carry me most of the distance. My feet hit the deck and I curled my body to absorb the impact. No sound except for the lightest tap. Finally, zoroark, purely from the power of his legs, leapt the entire distance and skillfully landed just as lightly as lucario while still maintain focus on the upholding the illusions that his the three of us.

Walking carefully on the decking, we made our way across the ship. Taking the first entrance we found, we infiltrated the belly of the beast. Guided by lucario's Aura sensing, we navigated the multiple and darkened hallways. Only one familiar to the ship's constant twists and turns could navigate the vessel. Turning a corner, I found myself looking down the hallway that led straight to the bridge. To my immediate dismay, a police officer was looking straight at me. Noticing that the officer didn't react, I reminded myself that zoroark had covered us in illusions. We tiptoed up to the bridge entrance and I peaked around the corner. The captain stood there and lucario gave me the telepathic conformation that he was indeed the target. The captain had just started a conversation with one of the officers, possibly as a distraction. "…pull the short straw to get the night shift?"

The officer nodded. "Aye. I and about two dozen others."

The captain's eyebrows rose in apparent shock. "Wow. Two dozen. Isn't that a bit much?" Lucario gave me the signal that he was faking the surprise.

"The officer shifted his feet to relieve the weight on one of his legs. "Maybe. We just don't want to risk the terrorists taking out this high value target. It would demoralize the people of Unova for this ship to blow, given everything else that have happened."

"True. Given everything else that's happened as you said; I don't know why I keep coming to work this early every morning. Very few people these days want to risk their lives on a cruise ship."

"You have a good point there. Many businesses have shut down because people don't want to risk being at the same place of a terrorist attack."

"Hmm. I know what you mean."

Then I saw it. The captain pulled something from his pocket, hid it behind his back, and pushed a button while conveniently blocking his eyesight. I brought my head back and gave the signal for everyone to block their eyes. Flashes of white-blue light violently erupted like lightning. Then I realized that it was lightning. Whatever that button did, it caused the electrical systems in the bridge to go haywire. Lightning arced to the two guards and a crewman. The captain must have been standing on non-conductive flooring to avoid getting hit. Being too far away for lightning to arc over to us, we were perfectly safe in our position so long as we didn't open our eyes to get blinded by the sudden lights.

Finally, it stopped. I risked a peak around the corner. The two guards and the crewman had collapsed to the ground, comatose. The radio on the belt of one of the guards transmitted voices from elsewhere. "Station 15, report. Station 15, is anyone there." The captain picked it up and, faking uncertainty in his voice, spoke into it. "Uh, who is this?"

"This is the officer in charge on the pier. We saw flashes from the bridge. Who is this?"

"This is the captain. Apparently, something went wrong with the electrical systems. Lightning started arcing every which way."

"Was anybody hurt?"

"I'm fine. But your two officers and one of my crewmen were hit and they're unconscious. I'm not a doctor, but I think you should get someone up here."

"Alright. We have some medical assistance heading you way along with new security personnel. Just sit tight."

"Will do." The captain dropped the radio. That was awfully clever of the captain. Fake an electrical short that takes out the guards and then blow up the ship. By my estimation, it would take five minutes for security to get here. Plenty of time for the captain to blow up the ship.

The captain retrieved a pokeball from under his uniform and through it. The white energy that emerged transformed into a ferrothorn. The pokemon resembled a flat steel durian with dozens of spikes protruding from its body. Two yellow eyes gazed around. Three green appendages attached to equally spiky metal disks waved around. Oh, blast, I thought to myself. That ferrothorn looked capable of producing an explosion big enough to sink the whole vessel. It was now or never.

Zoroark got the signal and dropped the illusion. Lucario flew at the ferrothorn like a demon-possessed maniac, desperate to stop any explosion. I ran and tackled the captain, quickly shutting his mouth so that ferrothon wouldn't receive the command to go boom. Ferrothorn and lucario tussled on the floor, but lucario was getting the lower end of the deal. Lucario was trained primarily for ranged combat, not close quarters. Zoroark still stood in the doorway. "Zoroark, use aerial ace on ferrothorn!" Zoroark obeyed and propelled himself into the spiky pokemon. It worked in pushing ferrothorn back to the window. The captain started struggling violently under me and got his mouth free enough to yell, "Ferrothorn, use explosion!" Ferrothorn started glowing, forcing my mind to work a mile a minute. "Lucario, use aura sphere and push ferrothorn out the window and over the water!" Lucario obeyed and held his paws back and close to each other. A sphere of blue and white energy started forming between his paws. Once ready, lucario flung it at ferrothorn. Ferrothorn took the hit and was dragged out the window by it. Glass shattered as the spiky pokemon was flung over the water. With nothing but water and air around, the ferrothorn created a massive explosion in itself.

The shock wave hit us first, flinging us to the deck like rag dolls. I sensed that the same thing was happening to the guards outside. Next came the heat of the explosion. It felt so blistering, I felt as though my robes would burn and my face would melt off. I squinted my eyes to see that once the fire hit the water below, massive columns of steam rose and enveloped the entire waterfront. Those few seconds felt like torturous minutes as I waited for it to end. As soon as it had started, it ended.

I arose first and picked up the captain from where he was lying. I threw him against the one chair in the room and slapped him out of his daze. He regained his focus and then stared at me. I returned the steely gaze with one that must have felt like ice shards. "Who is behind all of the terror attacks?" I asked him. He remained silent. "What are they planning next?" Silence. I punched him hard. "Answer me!"

When he looked back at me, a thin trickle of blood was running from his mouth, which was formed in the shape of a childish grin. He chuckled. "You can't stop us. We've planned every step far too well for far too long for you to stop us. We will always stay one step ahead of you."

"I don't think you've noticed, but I just stopped your terrorist attack."

"And I guess congratulations are in order for you." He brought up his hands and clapped mockingly. "But you don't realize that this was simply a tri attack."

"What?" My concentration slipped and I let loose an expression of surprise and horror. He liked that. Giggling like a little child, he said, "Oh, yes. You see, at this very moment, another attack has taken place in Hoenn, and another in Sinnoh. Blood is once again flowing through the streets."

He started laughing hysterically. Lucario sent a telepathic message. "Master, the guards will be here soon. We must leave." I looked at the captain laughing uncontrollably, so wanting to give him my version of the third degree for the information I needed. But it couldn't be risked. "Zoroark, take him out and hide us." Zoroark walked over and swung a strong arm against the captain's head, knocking him unconscious while at the same time, making us once again invisible. We remained to witness the police barge in and find the captain. Seeing no other suspects, they locked handcuffs around his wrists and hauled him off. Partially satisfied, we left.

5:49:57

5:49:58

5:49:59

5:50:00

Aboard his flagship in the naval blockade, the naval commander paced across the floor, waiting for the report. A huge explosion had been sighted in Castelia harbor, but no other reports had been filed. Questions rolled around in the naval commander's head. Was the attack on Castelia a success? Were the two attacks in Sinnoh and Hoenn successes as well? Such questions always plagued officers such as him after the attacks were supposed to take place.

"Sir." A young lieutenant interrupted his pacing and constant mental questioning. "Here's the report."

The naval commander took it gladly and read over it thoroughly. On schedule at 5:45 Unova time, which meant 3:45 in Hoenn, an explosion occurred at the shopping mall in Lilycove City. Minimal causalities reported; police uncertain how it happened, and the public was afraid once again. Good. Next report came from Sinnoh. One canister of toxic gas successfully deposited in the ventilation system of the Coronet Mountain Hotel while guests were sleeping. Operation was delayed to 4:48 Sinnoh time, but resulted in a complete success. High causalities estimated. Will know for certain come morning when the toxic gas starts taking effect. The third report came from the Castelia attack that was witnessed from the fleet. It read, "Interference took place from unknown source. Attack failed to go through. Explosion that took place was over the water. Minimal damage and zero causalities were reported. Law enforcement took in one suspect, the ship captain of the Royal Unova. No other suspects. Mysterious interference still unknown."

The naval commander flung down the report in frustration. How could the attack not have gone through? And who was this unknown interference? He needed answers for these important questions. However, one other pressing need required his immediate attention. "Lieutenant, approach." The lieutenant approached and saluted. "Yes sir?"

"The Castelia police force has the Castelia attack instigator hostage. Get me a line to Agent 5."

"Yes sir." The lieutenant rushed off to complete the task. After much scrambling with emergency communication codes, the lieutenant shouted, "Sir, Agent 5 has responded to hails."

The naval commander took a com device and shoved it into his ear. "Agent 5, are you on a secure line?"

"Affirmative sir." Said the voice on the other side.

"Good. We have had a bit of a mishap with the Castelia attack."

"So I've heard. The ship captain has been taken in."

"Precisely. I need him taken out before he speaks a word to the authorities. He knows enough to unravel everything we've worked for. Can you do this?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Out."

"Out."

5:59:57

5:59:58

5:59:59

6:00:00


	3. Chapter 3

The following takes place between 6:00 A.M. and 7 A.M.

Multi-colored lights glowed faintly atop the massive skyscrapers that filled Castelia City. Windows glowed from the lights within. Possibly every persona and pokemon was awake in the city of Castelia. A chilly early morning breeze carried its way through the city, in between towers, and around multiple objects as it twisted in its invisible path. The breeze brushed against the blue-black fur of lucario. The pokemon sat prone atop the tallest skyscraper in the city overlooking the harbor. Though his eyes were closed, lucario viewed everything with Aura.

The activity aboard the Royal Unova had attracted the attention of their entire city's force of cops in north of a dozen boats. The body of the spent ferrothorn had been found drifting with the current out to sea. As for the ship captain, lucario still had the tag on him. The bright red figure glowed brightly against the backdrop of white and gray. Police guards had taken the ship captain into custody for being suspect to the terrorist attack and had contained him in the police armored car. With a rumble of the engine, the armored car along with escort vehicles rolled through the streets towards Castelia police headquarters. Lucario stood and loped off to the far side of the skyscraper.

I leaned up against the skyscraper, resting my cloaked back against the cold surface of concrete. Lucario approached from my right along the rim of the skyscraper. "Master. They're moving the target to the law keeper base."

I nodded slowly. "Good…and bad."

Lucario transmitted a feeling of confusion. I explained. "In the law keeper base, he will be interrogated. Unfortunately, the police don't have the guts to go far enough to gain the right information. You can lie to the police and they won't know it. That sea captain is a loose thread in the terrorist plots. Once pulled, it will unravel the whole plan. But if the police fail in their interrogation and the loose end gets tied, we'll have nothing."

Lucario transmitted a feeling of understanding. "We have to do something master."

"I understand. But we can't do anything. Zoroark can't sneak us in this time. We need someone on the inside who has influence to personally interrogate the prisoner." An idea came to mind. I pulled back the robe from my left arm to reveal a gauntlet with a tiny computer attached to it. Accessing the touch screen, I pushed in the key for my telecom device and began typing in numbers. Pushing the button on my ear-bound com device, the call was made. After a few seconds, someone picked up on the other end. "Yes? Who is this?"

"Steven, it's me."

I heard the sound of someone rising to their feet as if shocked and bumping their knee against some furniture. "I thought I'd never hear from you."

"So did I. It sounds like you're awake this morning."

"Who isn't awake this morning?" he answered sarcastically. "There was just a bloody big explosion in the harbor and the police are everywhere. I just received a report that a blast went off at the shopping mall in Lilycove City."

"You need to inform the authorities about another attack in t he Sinnoh region. Toxic gas was dumped into the Coronet Mountain hotel in Hearthome City."

Silence filled the com line for several seconds. "How would you know this?"

"Because I'm the one who stopped the attack in Castelia bay earlier. The police have taken in a suspect; the ship captain of the Royal Unova. He told me that the attack on Castelia was combined with other attacks overseas."

"Does this mean that you now have information about the terrorists and their future attacks?"

"I wish I did. I didn't have time to interrogate the ship captain before the police arrived. So I need to call in a favor from you."

A sigh resonated across the line. "What do you need?"

"I can't trust the police to go as far as they need to. I want you to interrogate the ship captain for the information about future terrorist attacks. You have the influence to go in and I know you're willing to go as far as possible."

"That won't be possible. The guy can get lawyers, even this late at night."

"Negative on that. Three months ago, the Unova Regional government passed a law saying that if you're suspected of being a terrorist, then you will submit to questioning. Lawyers are commanded to stay out of it."

"Well, that certainly makes it easier. I'll try to get in. No promises."

"I don't accept promises. Just get the job done." I hung up on Steven.

Steven Stone paced back and forth across the floor of his hotel room. Ever since the terrorists had targeted Hoenn with their attacks, Steven had been sent to Unova as a formal representative for the Hoenn Region. Since arriving, he had grown stronger as a trainer. It was only a shame that politics interfered with life.

He looked at the TV screen in his room. A news report about the Castelia attack held his attention. "…still waiting for details. What appeared to be an attack on the Royal Unova however transformed into probably one of the biggest breaks for the Unova Region. The explosion meant for the Royal Unova cruise ship went off over a hundred yards away above the water. Police are still stumped as to how such an attack could have gone wrong, considering the evidence suggesting that the terrorist was aboard the Royal Unova at the time of the attack. Everyone here in Castelia city breathe a deep sigh of relief…" Steven shut it off and walked over to his video telecom station. Steven dialed the number for the Castelia police force chief; who he was confident was awake that morning. The police chief took his call, symbolized by the screen finally lighting up.

Before Steven sat a man in the prime of his years. He wore a police uniform, which showed the stress of having to work in Unova at that particular time by the number of un-ironed wrinkles. His eyes were up and alert, however, the bags beneath them told a different tale. The police chief spoke first. "Ah, Steven. What can I do for you?"

"I hear you've taken in a suspect from the Castelia attack?"

The chief was silent for awhile. "I didn't realize that anyone outside of the police was privy to that information. How did you know?"

Steven thought for a while. "A little pidove flew to my room and told me the whole story."

"Whatever. So what can I do for you?"

"I want permission to interrogate the prisoner."

The police chief chuckled a bit. "Well, Steven. Not to be offensive, but that's not exactly your area of expertise."

"But you do know how far I'm willing to go."

"Unfortunately, I do know. Why do you not want to leave this to us?"

"An attack took place in Lilycove City. I'm confident that the suspect knew about it the whole time. He must know more. You give me five minutes and I'll have him giving you his life story."

"I'm afraid I can't do that Steven. This sort of thing needs to be left to the professionals. I assure you, we'll also have him giving us his life story after a little encouragement."

"Blast it; we don't have time to wait for this. If there are more terrorist attacks in the planning and he knows about it, then we need the information yesterday!"

"I understand how passionate you are about this. You may come in and watch in on the interrogation, but I cannot allow you in the same room as the suspect. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. So am I." Steven switched off the video telecom. Getting to watch in on the interrogation would be good, but it would be much better if he was allowed to enter the same room as the suspect. He would have to find a work-around. "Klinklang," Steven addressed the pokemon with the multiple gears for a body. "Return to your pokeball. I might need you later." The gears pokemon turned into red energy, which flew into the pokeball. Steven retrieved a coat from the closet, donned it, and walked out the door.

6:14:57

6:14:58

6:14:59

6:15:00

The naval commander navigated his way to the hangar bay. Multiple helicopters and UAVs filled the large hangar. As he walked in, soldiers and work crews stopped their toil to salute him. He kept his fist to his chest as he walked by. With his set on the target, he walked a straight route to the multiple helicopters and UAVs off to the side being prepared for the morning mission. Crews with spray paint had just finished putting on the final touches to the aircraft. Now no one from afar could tell the difference between these aircraft, and those of the police. Perfect.

The work crews turned to salute him. One ran up with a touchpad computer held in his arms. "Sir! All preparations are nearly complete. The UAVs are receiving their newest paint job, disguising them to look like police UAVs. We've also reconfigured their transmitters to constantly be broadcasting Police IFF."

"Status on the new tech?" the naval commander replied.

"We have run several diagnostics revealing that the new tech works fine. The bridge is set up to receive real-time data from the new tech."

"Good. According to Unova intelligence, the primary is meeting in one of the upper floors of an office building in Castelia after 7:00 A.M. I want the UAVs in the air thirty minutes prior to that. There's plenty of activity in Castelia harbor, so you should have no problem blending in. As for the helicopters, one will carry the secondary strike team off the coast and out of sight."

"Yes sir! But what of the primary strike team."

"You need not concern yourself with that."

"Yes sir!"

A message came on the com device in the naval commander's ear. "Commander, a message from high command. They wish for you to contact them immediately."

The naval commander pressed the button on the com device to allow for his communication. "Very well. I'm on my way." With that, the naval commander turned to leave the hangar, leaving behind the work crews who continued to toil on the aircraft. Walking out and navigating the multiple corridors in the ship, the naval commander found his way to the bridge.

The bridge of the massive vessel contained everything required for fleet operations. Communications alone kept half a dozen trained men busy. Tactical had three men occupied by the screens displaying real-time data of the coasts. Radar and sonar data flowed into two terminals where two lieutenants studied it, scanning for clues that would suggest that their presence was making people suspicious. Flight control held the most personnel, with four men and three women with communications devices talking with the aircraft both grounded and aloft. In addition, multiple terminals monitored ship and fleet systems, water pressure, air supply, electrical systems, engine output, and so on.

Walking to communications, the naval commander took the first empty terminal and contacted headquarters. The screen replied, asking for three pass codes. Typical. Whenever headquarters was involved, high security prevented access by the common grunts. Instead of typing up the security codes in front of everyone, the naval commander withdrew a key card holding all the needed data from his pocket and inserted it into the computer. The pass codes automatically were entered and the line of communication was opened. A woman working in communications appeared on the screen.

"This is naval commander Deiderich with the Southern Naval blockade. I'm responding to a hail from the high commander."

The communications woman nodded. "Patching you through to the high commander now."

A few seconds passed until the screen changed to show the face of the high commander. "Yes, naval commander Deiderich?"

"I'm returning your hail, sir."

"Ah yes. What's the status of the fleet and the morning operations?"

"Status quo. The last touches are being added in preparation for the morning operation."

"Yes. Set that business aside for a moment. I have just heard a disturbing report that Agent RC has just been taken hostage by the Castelia police."

"I've heard the same report sir and I've moved forward with counter operations. Agent 5 inside Castelia is moving to take out Agent RC."

"Is that so? I want to make absolutely certain that the target is taken out. He's a loose end that can unravel everything."

"I understand sir."

"Then you understand the importance of this venture. I want you to personally confirm the death of Agent RC. If he's not dead, then everything can be lost."

"Yes sir. I'll make sure of his death."

"Meanwhile, there's another matter I wish to discuss. Do we know anything about the unknown person who took out Agent RC as of yet?"

"Negative sir. I have my agents researching further but nothing new has come up. Whoever or whatever that took out Agent RC must have done so with unmatched skill, speed, and stealth."

The high commander adopted a perplexed face. "If this thing gets in the way again, it could mean trouble for future operations. It must be dealt with."

"Without a clear of view of what it is, we can't do anything right now except wait for it to strike again and react fast enough to take action against it."

"Undoubtedly, it will still be in Castelia City. Inform your agents to keep an eye out. If it is endangering to the entire operation, then it must be treated as a primary target and removed from the playing field. I will not have the pieces I've been moving around be taken out by an enemy piece I can't even see."

"Understood sir."

"In the mean time, focus on taking out the primary. Remember that I want him captured alive and unspoiled. Remove his pokemon from him upon capture and lock him own aboard your ship. Then prep him for transport as soon as you can to take him here."

"Yes sir."

The high commander nodded. "Good. You're dismissed."

"Yes sir." The telecom screen went blank as the line of communications was shut down. A lieutenant from flight control walked up to naval commander Deiderich. "Sir, all aircraft are ready for the morning operation in Castelia City."

Naval commander Deiderich turned and refocused on the tasks before him. "Excellent. Attention all hands on the bridge!" All eyes turned in unison to the naval commander. "We are about to begin the operation. This is a very important operation for the goals of our group. The primary target waits in Castelia City, unaware of what we are about to do. As of now, no one within the city knows of this operation. I want to keep it that way. Therefore, before we resurface the fleet, I want for those working at satellite, radar, and sonar to make absolutely certain that we are in the clear for resurfacing. Flight control; prep the UAVs to launch first. I want them over the city by 6:30 A.M. After the UAVs launch, the primary strike team will take off and will take up positions off the coast and out of sight. The secondary strike team will take off in police-disguised helicopters and will blend in with the rest of the city. As soon as the secondary strike team takes off, inform the fleet to begin descending back into the sea. Remember that this is a most important operation. I want all hands on deck at communications, satellite and infrared, radar and sonar, flight control, and tactical. Make sure that communications and tactical are receiving real-time data from the UAVs and the strike teams. Any questions?" No one answered. "Then get to work and get this done."

Ship navigation and steering worked first. The massive vessel arose from the dark depths of the ocean and broke the once-calm surface of the water. Other vessels from beneath broke the water around the flagship. The submarines were the size of battleships unlike any other. Their shape matched those of oversized submarines, with rounded hulls and a central castle. However, their lengths measured more than two thousand feet. If anything, the ships resembled sharks, with multiple "fins" lining the sides and end.

At the command of the flight control center, multiple panels opened up on the top of every vessel. Massive elevators rose up through the openings. While some elevators held several helicopters, a few held a cargo of UAV strapped to one of the elevators ready for takeoff. In the command center in the bridge, an officer from flight control yelled across the room to naval commander Deiderich. "Sir, flight deck is reporting all clear for UAV takeoff."

Naval commander Deiderich nodded at the officer. "Radar and satellite?"

An officer from surveillance replied, "Negative enemy contacts."

Deiderich nodded. "Flight control, contact flight deck ops and order them to launch UAVs."

"Yes sir. Flight deck ops, you have a green light. Launch the drones."

Flight deck ops received the communiqué. The first UAV was unshackled and moved into position on the short flight deck. Two steel cords as thick as two fingers were leashed onto the UAV. The jet rocket on the back of the UAV was activated, but the two cords held the UAV down. Meanwhile, on the other end of the elevator, a ramp leveled up to a thirty degree angle. Once the UAV jet had reached optimal power, the cords were released and the UAV jumped forward and jumped off the ramp. The jet's power sped the drone up into the sky until it reached cruising height. Once there, it leveled out and entered into a circle over the fleet. Aboard three other ships, UAVs began taking off and circling in the skies. Once all dozen UAVs filled the skies, naval Deiderich walked over to flight control. "Lieutenant, get me on line with drone control." The lieutenant nodded and accessed communications to drone control.

Naval commander Deiderich accessed a com device and contacted drone control. The administrator at drone control replied, "Yes sir?"

"Drone control; put those drones over Castelia City in standard police surveillance flight pattern. I don't want the authorities getting suspicious. As soon as those drones reach the city, activate the sensor devices and begin the search."

"Roger that commander. Commencing drone operation."

Commander Deiderich shut off the com device and looked out the windows of the command center. The dozen drones flew off to the north to Castelia City. Once they disappeared over the horizon, Deiderich turned to the next item of business. Accessing the com device in his ear, he contacted his next contacts. "Shadow warriors, what's your status?"

Five men in black uniforms and overcoats stood atop on the many elevators atop the battleship. One of them accessed the com device he had. "Yes sir. Our status is green. We're ready to go."

"You have a green light. Wait a mile off the coast and out of sight until we get confirmation from the drones that the primary is in Castelia. Once you find him, you are directed to take him alive and bring him back here."

"Understood." He turned off the com device and turned to the others. "Shadow warriors, this is it. This is what we've trained for. It's just like any other op we've run. Let's move Shadow squad!" They each threw a pokeball into the air. The white energy that emerged transformed into five hydreigons. The three-headed and six-winged dragons roared in lust for battle. The shadow warriors mounted their dragons and flew off into the distance after the drones.

Deiderich watched them depart until they too disappeared over the horizon. Turning to flight control, he shouted, "Alert flight deck ops. Secondary strike team is cleared for takeoff." The message was passed on to flight deck ops. The last of the aircraft – all helicopters – already held their cargo of strong soldiers with their pokemon. In unison, the rotors on each helicopter whirled about until the helicopters gained enough power to stay aloft. Once off the ground, twin jets on the stern carried the helicopters forward into greater heights. The dozen and a half helicopters flew forward in two V-shaped formations to the north to Castelia City.

Deiderich again watched them unceasingly until they disappeared. Turning to ship operations, he ordered, "Drop the ships." The admins nodded and commenced descent operations. The elevators lowered and the panels moved to conceal the entrances. Once all stations reported ready, the ships dropped to their previous positions below the surface of the ocean. However, this time, a single large buoy with an antennae and satellite dish remained on the surface. A single rubber-bound cord connected the buoy with the flagship below, allowing the command center to view everything brought in through communications from the surface world. The operation was finally underway.

6:29:57

6:29:58

6:29:59

6:30:00

The morning sun rose slowly in the Eastern sky, illuminating the port city in a soft orange pink hue. The water in the harbor sparkled softly reflecting the light. Street lights remained lit at the present time, appearing extremely dim compared to the newly revealed sun. City streets began to slowly fill with cars and sidewalks filled with pedestrians as people slowly journeyed to work. No words exchanged sides between people. The action of last night had everyone shaken up. No terrorist attack with such magnitude had been felt by everyone in Castelia ever. Police boats and armored cars still occupied the water front. Unbeknownst to any of the officers below on the ground, a cloaked figure studied the scene from above.

I crouched atop a wall of concrete on the rooftop of a skyscraper directly above the waterfront. My trained eyes studied the scene below. The police had closed down the entire harbor. Three cargo vessels out to sea had been halted by the police and were undergoing inspections by the officers. Though last night's terrorist attack hadn't harmed anyone, it had spooked the police to the point where they had closed down the water route into Castelia. They had even closed down Skyarrow Bridge until further notice. Only time would tell if the land routes into Castelia City would be closed down too.

Looking up into the morning sky, I studied the beautiful array of colors. The sky changed from dark blue in the West to light blue, to a mixture of pink and orange in the East. A low droning sound caught my ears, drawing my attention to the south. About a dozen small, unmanned planes were flying into Castelia Airspace. Above the skyscrapers, they drew invisible lines in a standard police surveillance pattern. I smiled. The police were reacting properly and fast enough. With those drones in the skies, terrorists couldn't remain hidden on the ground and couldn't sneak in by any air route into the city.

Lucario walked up slowly behind me. "The police have moved in their mindless birds?"

A chuckle escaped from my mouth. Some of the phrases that lucario used to describe things were absolutely hilarious. "Yes lucario. The police have moved in their mindless birds."

Lucario gazed up at the "mindless birds" and mentally traced their paths. I too looked up and watched the UAVs. Though they looked very little like real birds, they reminded me of the bird pokemon that roamed the mountains of my northern home in Sinnoh. In those mountains, starly and staravias would roam together in groups while staraptors would tend to roam alone like those UAVs. Remembering those staraptors brought back so many memories of the past of growing up in the mountains.

I hailed from the mountains in the north eastern reaches of Sinnoh, on the smaller piece of the massive continent. For the longest time, I remembered only living in a cave with lucario. Lucario and I had literally had been together since the beginning. I didn't know my parents or why I dwelled within a cave. However, I and lucario learned to overcome all difficulties, to be content with whatever we had. The adversities trained us both to grow stronger than anyone. Even when either one of us was sick, we would still work to gather enough food and water for that day. Every night, the temperatures dropped below twenty degrees. The cold stone walls of the cave did little to keep the cold out. As ironic as it sounds, winter provided more warmth for us, since the snow would serve as an effective insulator from the cold. Summer nights rarely reached above sixty degrees in those cold northern regions.

On one particular cold night, an assassin named Gladius finally found us. At the time, I and lucario were thin, dehydrated, and I barely had any suitable clothes. The assassin brought us back to a town on the coast, called Pier Town. It was little more than a fishing village. Steep and treacherous mountains all around prevented the town from growing any further, since only the very brave or the very foolish built houses in the mountains where unfriendly mountain storms ripped houses apart. The lack of serious industry prevented the buildings in Pier Town to grow past three or four stories. On the coast lay the only landmark. Touched by the waves of the sea, a castle/mansion dominated five and a half acres on the coast. A single tower rose from the castle holding up a beacon that served as the single lighthouse for the town. This is where the assassins lived, trained, and exercised their duties in the Sinnoh Region. Our order was devoted to justice and keeping the Region free from corruption and crime as much as we could. It was here that I and lucario ended up.

When invited to join the order of assassins to be trained, to fight corruption, injustice, and crime, all the while being content with how little we had, both I and lucario agreed. For the first time, we lived together in a room where the temperature at night remained above forty degrees and where I had proper clothes. In the many courtyards and training yards, lucario and I trained fiercely to become one of the assassins. Despite being behind three others who were training to be assassins, I and lucario jumped ahead of them, thanks to the years of grueling challenges in the mountains.

In those months of rigorous training among the assassins, our teachers discovered that I and lucario had the ability to touch and control Aura. Suddenly, it was hard to realize who the teacher was and who the student. While the assassins taught I and lucario how to become dwellers of the shadows, we taught them about Aura, how it flowed, how it moved. Even though they could never fully comprehend it, the teachers were fully engaged in the times when I and lucario taught them.

After much training, I was promoted to the second highest rank of assassin: lord assassin. However, there was no one who could recognize my unofficial rank of Aura Guardian. But lucario and I still adopted the unofficial title. With my promotion to lord assassin having taken place, I departed from the castle home of the order to journey throughout Sinnoh to conquer the Sinnoh Pokemon League. That was five years ago. Sinnoh was my home.

Unfortunately, it couldn't be for the order of assassins. The Sinnoh regional government was very wary of secret organizations, despite their good intentions. As the regional government spread their judicial control over the rest of Sinnoh, the order of assassins was increasingly forced to back off. Now, the order was nearly extinct. At the moment, it was safe to assume that I was the last one.

A steady beeping resonating from the computer on my arm brought me back to the world of reality. A call was incoming. Looking at the computer screen on my arm, I read the caller ID. Steven. I pushed the button on my ear-bound com device. "Steven, what is it?"

"Yes. I'm in. The police are allowing me to watch as they interrogate the prisoner."

I growled. "That's not good enough Steven. Get the information out of the suspect. He's our only lead."

"I understand. No promises."

I pushed the button again, shutting off the communiqué. I trusted Steven to do what was necessary.

6:44:57

6:44:58

6:44:59

6:45:00

Steven decided to wear his best business suit and tie that particular morning. A thick overcoat protected him from the cold of Unova. Since coming to Unova a month ago as a representative from Hoenn to coordinate with the local regional government against the terrorists, he had to readjust to the much colder climate. Cold was nearly nonexistent in Hoenn except for ocean caves and the deepest parts of the ocean.

Walking into Castelia police headquarters, Steven felt quite tired, but focused. The twin attacks in Opplucid City were still top news everywhere, and the news of the attempted attack in Castelia harbor was only just making its way around Unova. Police headquarters in Castelia was more active than usual, with cops rushing about to their work. Steven didn't know exactly what it was that they were doing. All he knew was that they were keeping busy. Steven watched them carefully. Their eyes told tales of sleep deprivation, but duty focused.

A police lieutenant walked up to meet Steven. They shook hands and without a word, walked down the hall to the interrogation rooms. Coming to Room 5, they stepped into a small room filled with computer equipment and screens. Another door and a two way mirror dominated the entirety of the opposite wall. Through the two way glass, Steven could see the suspect the police had just apprehended. He looked well dressed in a fashionable manner. That was to be expected, given that the suspect held the prestigious position of captain of the Royal Unova. A police interrogator already occupied the room with the captain, talking with him. The audio from within was transmitted to the observation lab through a set of speakers on the ceiling.

The policeman handed a red file to Steven. From personal knowledge in Hoenn, Steven knew that the color red only meant one thing: dangerous suspect. Opening it, he found two mug shot pictures of the captain in front of a ruler. Held to the pictures by a paperclip were a few sheets of paper explaining why he was a dangerous suspect. In the right pocket of the folder, were multiple sheets of paper half an inch thick about the suspect's history. Even though Steven was studying the information, the policeman spoke it out loud from memory. "Leroy Jenkins. Age 57. Born in Lilycove City. Moved to Slateport at age ten with his grandparents. He's been the captain of the Royal Unova for nearly five years. Before that, he served aboard several merchant vessels. He was captain of the merchant vessel Holiday for seven years. Before his career as a merchant man, he worked with his grandparents in a market. No previous criminal record. He's one of those you'd think would be a good guy."

Steven perused through the information with a careful eye, looking for details or inconsistencies. None. What happened to this guy that would turn him into a terrorist? Steven looked through the two way glass at the interrogation in progress. The officer interrogating Leroy was sitting on the metal table in front of Leroy, talking to him almost nicely. "Now Leroy, it says here that you worked with your grandparents. Are they still alive?" No response. The file had said that his grandparents had died when he was twenty-three. "Well, what about your parents." Still no response. The file had also said that they had both died in a tragic car accident when Leroy was ten, thus his reason for moving to Slateport City. "What would they think of you now if they were alive and here right now? How do you think they would feel if they found that you of all people would stoop to this level and attack this region as a terrorist?"

Steven growled, attracting the attention of the others in the room. "What is it?"

Steven turned with a look of purest disapproval. "Your so-called trained interrogator in there won't get anything out of Leroy. He's practically coddling him. Leroy isn't some immature brat you caught on the streets after curfew. He's a well trained sailor from Hoenn. I don't know if you know seamen, but seamen don't fear anything. The seas are really scary places where almost nothing is in your control. You survive by your wits and that's it. Leroy there won't be scared by the natural. That so-called interrogation is natural. You have to scare him by the unnatural."

"You know we're not allowed to perform extreme interrogations in here."

"To #!*% with your rules! He's a terrorist. If the roles were reversed, the terrorists wouldn't be nearly as kind to you. In fact, the kindest they'd probably be is if you were lucky enough to still have all your fingers attached. You give me five minutes in that room with him, I'll have him singing whatever tunes you like."

The other officers shifted uncomfortably until one, the leader, nodded and let Steven in. The other interrogator left, allowing Steven to enter. Mr. Jenkins studied him, probably surprised to see someone in a nice suit and tie with an overcoat draped over their left arm enter. Steven took the only other seat in the room across from Leroy, shifted into a comfortable position, and pulled out a leather bound box from his overcoat. Unwrapping the leather, he revealed a foldable chess board. He set up the chess board and all of the pieces between himself and Leroy. Steven chose black, allowing Leroy to take white. Leroy looked quizzical. "Who are you?"

"My name is Steven Stone of the Hoenn region Mr. Jenkinss. The kind officers outside allowed me to come in so that we could play a quick game of chess. So, your move's first."

"What makes you think that I want to play with you?"

"Because you either play with me or get bored to death by that other interrogator."

He nodded and moved his first piece. I moved my own. "So tell me about the attempted attack. It sounds to me that it should have succeeded. What happened?" He looked at Steven with a curious look. Steven continued. "Oh yes. It was a well planned attack. Get aboard. The police wouldn't bother you. Get a pokemon to use explosion aboard the boat. The ship ends up halfway to the moon and you single handedly frighten the entire world. So why didn't it work?"

Leroy moved another piece. "Someone interfered."

Steven moved another piece. "Who?"

Leroy countered with another piece. "I don't know. He wore a black cloak and wore a veil to hide his face. But he used a lucario and a zoroark in battle."

Steven paused a little, looking intent on the present chess game. Moving a piece, he continued. "Interesting. A zoroark would explain how he got aboard the ship. But lucario are quite rare in the Unova region. Interesting."

Leroy moved another piece. "Yes. It is."

Steven and Leroy exchanged moves on the chess board. In a short time, Steven had maneuvered his pieces to corner Leroy's king. Checkmate. Steven stood up. "Hey. You want to see something cool?"

Leroy slowly nodded. Steven produced pokeball from his coat and opened it. The white energy that emerged transformed into the levitating gears of klinklang. "Positively on the coolest thing about klinklang has to be its spinning gears. They move in such synchronized movements. One never gets ahead of another. They're always in order. But it's also very dangerous. It's been reported before by trainers of klinklang that if you slipped a finger between two gears, you could smash your finger to a point where it wouldn't heal."

Leroy started to shift uncomfortably in his seat. Steven looked at him with a piercing gaze as sharp as steel. "Now that we've had a nice game of chess, you're going to tell me everything you know about the terrorists."

Mr. Jenkins went on the offensive. "You can't do anything to me. Police aren't allowed to torture suspects."

"Do I look like a cop?" Steven yelled, kicked his chair back, and lifted the table up and over. "Do I look like someone who can be held down by rules?" Leroy stood up and back up against the opposite wall, clearly frightened by this sudden show of aggression. Steven stared unceasingly at the suspect. "Now you are going to tell me all about terrorist operations you're involved with, or I'll see to it that your fingers are left unusable by klinklang's gears." The gears on the pokemon started spinning faster and faster.

Leroy kept his mouth shut, but his eyes were trained on the spinning gears in evident fear. Steven waited for as long as he would. "Fine." He lunged forward and grabbed Leroy's right hand. Keeping the fingers straight, Steven brought them closer to klinklang's gears. The gears spun faster as the fingers closed the distance. Leroy broke down and shouted, "Stop it. I'll tell you everything." The gears stopped and Steven dropped the hand. Leroy backed as far away from klinklang as he could. "I'll tell you everything in return for an immunity agreement. Total immunity from everything, nothing less. And I want it signed by each of the regional governments."

Steven continued to stare at Leroy. Finally, he spoke. "Klinklang, sit tight here." Steven departed from the room, leaving his pokemon to watch Leroy. In the observation lab, the other officers were already moving ahead of him. The leader said, "Good job Steven. We'll get the immunity deal signed and ready. Good job." Steven nodded and reentered the room. "Congrats Leroy. You're getting immunity. You'll be taken care of." Leroy breathed a deep sigh of relief.

Agent 5 in the observation lab sent a quick text message on a secure line to commander Deiderich. The text message simply read, "Subject orange."

Naval commander Deiderich received the communiqué. Reading it, he gritted his teeth. He needed something big to help agent 5. Something so big, the whole world would be stunned and everything, including the interrogation of agent RC, would halt. But what?

6:59:57

6:59:58

6:59:59

7:00:00


	4. Chapter 4

The following takes place between 7 A.M. and 8 A.M.

Traveling incognito thanks to zoroark through the crowded streets and sidewalks of Castelia City turned into more of a difficult job than ever. Weaving between moving people without jostling them and making them suspicious took precedence moving through the streets of Castelia City. Progress was slow moving through the city streets. Turning a corner into an alleyway, I took the shortcut to the next street. Noticing many more police patrolling the streets, I took extra caution. Blending in with the crowds was much more important than anything.

Navigating the streets of Castelia, I finally came to a sixty story office building. A sign out front named the structure as the Hewitt Building. I entered through the front door, made sure that the front cameras saw me as a simple businessman, and proceeded to the elevator. On board, a pushed button brought me to my destination on the forty-seventh floor. Upon entering, I checked my watch. 7:05. Plenty of time. I walked through the office complex, appearing to everyone like any other businessman. I was anxious to get the meeting with my contact over with soon. Across the telepathic connection between I and lucario, I could sense him standing guard on the empty roof top of the building, carefully staying hidden from prowling eyes, including those of the police drones in the air. Last thing either of us needed was the Castelia police force breathing down our necks.

Turning a corner, I found the private offices of one Cornelius Fletcher, probably a successful businessman in Castelia City. Below the name, white letters spelled out the word: Banker. On the other hand, his job probably wasn't going as good in the present financially uncertain times. Opening the door, I entered the room. The whole office was quite spacious, with multiple bookshelves filled with books. A single man occupied the room. He turned and looked at me. "Dweller of shadows?"

"Defender of light?" I replied. The man nodded. I tuned to my invisible zoroark. "Give us cover." A wave swept over the room. As far as I knew, zoroark had fulfilled his task. I and the other man could now see each other as we truly were. Facing me in blue jeans, a long-sleeve shirt, coat, and laden with a backpack was a young man no more than sixteen years of age. I saw a zoroark behind him with glowing eyes, apparently focused on maintaining the illusions in the room. The young man smiled when he could finally see my true form. "Welcome to the Unova Region Malik. I only wish it was under cheerier circumstances."

"As do I Orion."

Orion and I first met in the Sinnoh region while he was still a novice trainer in the middle of bustling Veilstone City. He was in the midst of his journey through the Sinnoh region and conquering the Sinnoh League. From our first battle, I could sense the strength and resolve within him. I held a hunch that he would eventually conquer the Sinnoh League. When he did, we celebrated together, but only for a little while. Team Galactic's political takeover of the Sinnoh region forced us to fight shoulder to shoulder against them. After Team Galactic was forced out politically, Orion decided to move onward and traveled to the Unova region. The day we said our goodbyes was almost two years ago.

When the terrorist attacks struck Unova six months ago, Orion immediately took to the front lines in the fight on terrorism. Aside from the champion and the Elite Four of the Unova region, Orion provided the greatest challenge to the terrorists. It will probably never be revealed how many terrorist attacks never took place because of Orion's efforts. However, fighting terrorists who have influence on an international scale always comes with a sacrifice, as Orion found out. The terrorists started targeting his friends, coworkers, and associates in an attempt to stem his counters to their operations. Thus the reason for Orion to call me to the Unova region. He required my assistance against the terrorists and I had arrived to provide it.

"How are things?" I asked.

Orion shrugged. "As okay as living undercover most of the time can be. Let's get this over with."

I nodded. "Yes. Let's."

Orion set his backpack on the table and pulled a mobile hard drive from within. He slid it across the table over to me. "This hard drive holds four hundred and fifty gigabytes of data I've collected on the terrorists, both their local and international operations. Everything is heavily encrypted and only I have the key just in case. There's only one non-encrypted file, but it's only a program that shows fake information while deleting all the real information and then destroying the device."

I raised my eyebrows. "What have you not done to ensure the security of the information?"

Orion chuckled. "This is important. The terrorists can't be taken down just by stopping their attacks. There must be some clues in this information that can lead to their downfall."

"Wouldn't you know? You are the one with this information."

"I, unlike you, do not have the luxury of knowing the mind of bad guys."

Now I chuckled. Part of assassin training was thinking like the enemy. Orion possessed a good point here.

"Very well. I'll study the information."

"Good. Thank you. Make sure no one knows of this."

"Not even the police?"

"There's a reason I haven't gone to the police. Twice I've been caught out in the open by terrorists. In both instances, either the terrorists were getting better at tracking me, or they have sleeper agents in the Unova police."

Dang. I always suspected. But what if it was true? If so, how far did the corruption spread? "Very well. I'll protect it. When can you decrypt the data?"

"Soon. I want to make sure that we're not at risk of attack here. What happened in Castelia Bay has me a bit uneasy. You understand."

"Of course."

Naval commander Deiderich paced the command bridge on his flagship with a tense filled gait. Looking at his watch, he studied the numbers that read 7:05 A.M. If the primary was in Castelia, he must have been sighted by now.

"Sir! I think we found something!" Deiserich immediately rushed over to tactical, where a screen showed the camera view of one of the drones over the city. The view appeared distorted, with colors of purple and blue washed across it. From what commander Deiderich could gather, the drone was orbiting a very tall office building. One of the tactical admins pointed suddenly to the screen. "There it is again sir." The admin's finger pointed to nothing more than a blob of yellow set high up in the office building. "Beginning procedures to map out illusion."

Another computer screen at tactical took a still shoot of the yellow blob and began scanning it. With each pass of the scan, the yellow blob became more distinct and began to reveal more features. Four shapes of the color red began to appear inside the yellow blob. Two were obviously people, standing on either end of a table. The other two subjects held the form and shape of pokemon. A quick scan through the database revealed that both pokemon were zoroarks. The admin in charge of the scanning stood up and turned to commander Deiderich. "Sir. We have a clear view of the illusion. It is hiding two people meeting in an office, accompanied by two zoroarks."

"Two zoroarks?"

"Yes sir."

"Which one is the primary?"

The admin copied the scanned image to a pad computer and showed it to commander Deiderich. "This one here is most likely the primary. The other one is the one that the primary was meeting."

Deiderich nodded. That was good enough for him. Tapping his com device, he spoke into it. "Shadow squad. We have a visual of the illusion that the primary is using. They are in the Hewitt Building, on the 47th floor."

A low voice responded. "Yes sir. Moving to engage the target."

7:7:57

7:7:58

7:7:59

7:8:00

Lucario held his position on top of the office building, feeling out the surroundings with Aura. Lucario could easily sense the emotions of people at least a mile away. So far, the general feelings he received were fear, uncertainty, apprehension, confusion, and basic stress. A melancholy mood had settled on Castelia City like an inescapable blanket. Lucario almost felt annoyed. Over a million inhabitants in this one city – possibly the greatest city in the entire world – and not one had a joyous mood that morning.

Like bogies entering a radar screen, lucario saw five subjects enter his one mile radius emotion scanning field. That wasn't unusual. Hundred of subjects had come and gone in the past five minutes. But these particular five held dark emotions in their hearts where the human eyes couldn't notice. But lucario saw them clearly. The dark emotions involved focus, ambition, and dark intentions. Lucario reached out with his Aura and found them, flying above the city. The five subjects rode five pokemon. If they maintaine their current course, their path would end here, at this particular office building. "Master!"

I cringed slightly as the strong and loud telepathic signal hit my head. "What is it lucario?"

"Five targets with dark intentions approach."

Orion must have noticed something was up. "What is it?"

I looked at him as I answered. "We have five bogies incoming." At the same time, I sent another message to lucario. "Hit the fire alarm and get people out of this building." Lucario transmitted back a yes.

Orion continued. "That's impossible. They can't see through illusions, can they?"

I shrugged. "It's hypothetical, but not worth thinking of right now. Zoroark, drop the illusion." The blanket of illusions dropped. Orion's zoroark followed suit. "Lucario is waiting on the roof. We'll take on the targets there." A loud ringing suddenly filled the building. Automatic sprinklers on the ceiling started spinning and releasing torrents of water. Orion looked at me with concern. "I told lucario to hit the fire alarm so that people would evacuate." We started to make our way to the roof. Once we found the emergency staircase, we proceeded upwards, eventually coming to a large door with big red letters spelling, "Caution. Rooftop." We proceeded through the door and onto the roof top. Lucario stood in the middle waiting for us. I mentally asked the direction of the targets. He pointed with one paw to the south east. Gazing, I saw five dark spots in the sky and grow larger as they approached. "Looks like we're going to have to fight this one out."

Orion nodded and started taking out two pokeballs. "Samurott, volcarona, come on out!" he yelled, throwing the pokeballs. The white energy that exited them transformed into two pokemon. One, the samurott, looked like a giant sea lion with a spike on its forehead. The other, volcarona, floated above the ground on six wide wings and looked like an oversized moth, with colors ranging from white and green on the front, to orange and red on the wings. With the zoroarks and lucario, we numbered five strong; plenty to defend ourselves.

The five targets now dived out of the sky and surrounded the roof top of the office building. Each of the targets wore black clothes and black overcoats. Their steeds were three headed and six-winged dragons. Orion whispered to me, "Hydreigons. Dual dragon and dark types. Piece of cake."

One of the targets reached up and talked into a com device he had. "Yes sir. We have visual contact on the primary target." Who was the primary target, I wondered. All five of the enemy targets shouted as one, "Hydreidon, hyper beam!" The central heads of the hydreidons started producing powerful hyper beams to hurl at us.

"Orion, watch out!" I shouted the warning at the same time I sent a telepathic message to lucario, ordering a counterstrike. Lucario produced an aura sphere between its paws and hurled it at one of the oncoming hyper beams. The hyper beam melted away when the aura sphere struck it. The other four hyper beams continued to fly at us.

Orion shouted out, "Volcarona and zoroark, use flamethrower! Samurott, use hydro pump!" Volcarona and zoroark jumped into action, shooting flames from their gaping jaws. Samurott on the other hand, opened its jaws and shot a pressurized shot of water at the hyper beam. Three of the hyper beams dissolved in a massive explosion. The last beam flew through the smoke of the prior explosions.

"Zoroark!" I shouted. "Focus blast!" Zoroark jumped high and produced a ball of bright energy between its claws and hurled it at the last hyper beam. The hyper beam and focus blast exploded against each other as the conflicting energies collided. The light produced from the explosion illuminated the entire roof top brighter than it already was. The smoke cleared, revealing the battleground just as it was before shots were fired. I moved forward to confront the five foes. "What do you want? Who are you?"

"That is not for you to know cloaked figure!" They started communicating amongst themselves. All five split up, leaving three surrounding us and two flying up to attack from above.

Behind me, Orion moved into action. "Volcarona, silver wind towards the targets upstairs!" Volcarona angled upwards and flapped its wings. Huge gusts of silver wind flew upwards at the hydreigons. The stronger bug-type attack struck the weaker dark-type dragons with previously unmatched ferocity. Stunned by the sudden attacks, the two dragons dropped away. The other three foes ordered their hydreigons to attack. Gaping jaws opened to release flamethrowers to sweep the roof. Orion never lost a beat. "Samurott, surf in all directions and neutralize the flames!" Samurott obeyed, spinning around as it produced waves of water the contacted the flamethrowers. Steam rose from the flames and water meeting.

I saw my chance. "Lucario, use aura sphere! And zoroark, use focus blast!" The two jumped into action, hurling spheres of fighting-type energy through the steam to where the flamethrowers originated. Tearing through the steam with the power of a thousand tyranitars, they flew straight and true towards the dragons. Two of the dragons fell from the sky once hit and regained their flight pattern. The third foe however, dived threw the steam, avoiding the second focus blast that zoroark produced, and landed on the roof. The man atop the hydreigon produced three pokeballs from his overcoat and threw them. The white energy that emerged and transformed into a bisharp, krookodile, and haxorus, all of whom stood atop the roof and faced us. The coated figure jumped off his hydreigon, preferring to stand on the roof with his pokemon. "Haxorus, use dragon claw! Krookodile, use bulldoze! Bisharp, use iron head!" The three pokemon flew forward into battle. Haxorous jumped up and clawed at volcarona. Krookodile charged into Orion's zoroark, dashing it to the ground. Bisharp lunged forward into my zoroark, striking with head literally made of iron. "Now hydreigon, flamethrower on that lucario!" the hydreigon launched a stream of fire at lucario.

I sent a quick mental message. "Dodge it!" Lucario jumped to the side of the flamethrower. Then I saw it: a chess game. The four attacks from the coated man had moved most resistance out of the way. The coated man started sprinting forward through the cleared battleground. From beneath his overcoat, he pulled a pistol and pointed it at Orion. Pulling the trigger, two needles with thin wires attached flew through the air and impaled themselves into Orion's chest. A loud crackle could be heard as twenty thousand volts of electricity flowed through the wires into Orion's chest. Orion screamed from the shock and agony. His body started to twitch violently and then fell to the roof limp.

The coated man smiled and touched the com device. "This is shadow warrior one. Primary target neutralized."

"Orion!" I yelled and lucario moved to defend our mutual friend. By now, the other four foes were moving back to the roof. Each of them threw three pokeballs, producing krookodiles, bisharps, and haxoruses. With Orion down, his pokemon without a commander, and surrounded by twenty pokemon and their commanders, the situation was looking hopeless. I removed two more pokeballs and threw them out. "Blaziken, Garchomp, I summon you!" Both pokemon emerged from the pokeballs. "Volcarona, zoroark, and samurott, follow my commands now. Form up a perimeter around Orion. Here they come!"

7:29:57

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7:30:00

The twenty enemy pokemon attacked en masse. Through the camera lenses of the circling drones, naval commander Deiderich watched the entire rooftop battle from the command bridge. Messages from the shadow squad came in loud and clear through the speakers in the command center. "This is shadow warrior four. Conducting side swipe assault on enemy targets."

Shadow warrior three: "Roger that. Preparing for frontal assault."

Shadow warrior one: "Belay on the frontal assault shadow warrior three. Shadow warrior four, conduct the side swipe assault. Shadow warriors three and five, follow up shadow warrior four's assault with a flank assault."

Shadow warrior three: "Roger that. Ready with the flank."

Shadow warrior five: "Roger that. Standing in wait."

Shadow warrior one: "Shadow warrior two, move upstairs and provide air support for both assaults."

Shadow warrior two: "Yes sir. Moving to aerial supporting position."

Commander Deiderich watched the scene with increasing impatience. Explosions filled a majority of the screen as pokemon attacks met in mid flight. The cloaked figure standing proudly on the roof top next to his neutralized friend commanded all seven of the pokemon around him with ease and esteemed coordination. Despite being outnumbered almost three to one, the cloaked man and his pokemon fought bravely and in sync with each other. Meanwhile, shadow squad struggled to adapt quickly to their one foe's counterattacks. Commander Deiderich pushed the button allowing him to contact shadow warrior one. "Shadow warrior one. This is naval commander Deiderich. What is the problem?"

"The primary target has been neutralized, but the secondary target is giving us trouble."

"Finish the operation up. You're gaining too much publicity up there."

"Roger that. But we need support. We request that the secondary strike team be sent in…"

"To do what exactly? You outnumber the enemy almost three to one. Secondary strike team would only get in your way."

"Understood sir. But if secondary strike team could do something big to give us enough of an advantage to capture the primary and neutralize the secondary, then they need to be sent in immediately."

Naval commander Deiderich paused. He remembered his thoughts earlier that morning. Something so big, everything in the world, including the interrogation of Agent RC, would halt. But what? Only one idea came to mind. "Shadow warrior one, stand your ground. Secondary strike team is incoming. You need to be ready as soon as possible to capture the primary and transfer him over to the secondary strike team for removal from the hot spot."

"Roger that sir. Awaiting opportunity."

Commander Deiderich walked over to communications. "Get me the secondary strike team on the line, now!" The admins rushed to access communications for secondary strike team. In a few seconds, one admin gave the signal to commander Deiderich. Deiderich pushed the button on his com device again and began to speak into. "Secondary strike team, this is naval commander Deiderich."

"This is secondary strike team responding to hail. Awaiting orders."

"Your orders stand thus: Destroy the Hewitt Building." All around naval commander Deiderich, officers on the ship stared in shock at the sudden and unexpected order.

"Please repeat." Secondary strike team called back. "Please repeat, over."

"Destroy the Hewitt building. Primary strike team is already in position to give you the primary. Bring the Hewitt building down and transport the primary back here. Understood?"

"Yes sir. We're on our way. Secondary strike team, out."

Deiederich turned back to the admins of communications. "Send a message to agent 5. Tell him this: O2B."

"Yes sir."

Faraway, in the skies close to Castelia City, a dozen helicopters cut through the air with their twin rotors and rockets. Communications flew through the air between the helicopters as the pilots exchanged commands. "Chopper three; fall back a bit into formation." "Chopper six; level out." The dozen choppers flew low over Skyarrow Bridge. The traffic and pedestrians below noticed, but probably never minded a dozen helicopters flying low overhead. The spires of Skyarrow Bridge gave way to the spires of Castelia City. Police and broadcasting helicopters flew above the city, far above the flight path of the dozen helicopters. The dozen choppers flew a straight line to the sight of much excitement.

The pilot in the lead chopper accessed the com channel for naval command. "Chopper one to naval command. We have visual on the target building. Breaking formation and entering into attack formation." Now communicating with the choppers. "Squad, our orders are clear. The Hewitt building must come down. Use hyper beams as the tool to bring it down. Strike in orbital pattern delta. I estimate the building will come down in about twenty minutes. Check in." Each of the chopper pilots checked in to show that they were ready for the operation.

Shadow warrior one saw the choppers approach and contacted them. "Attack chopper one, this is shadow warrior one. What's your status?"

Chopper one responded quickly. "Shadow warrior one; our status is green. We're moving into position to bring down the building. Secure the primary and fall back as soon as the opportunity rises. Transfer the primary to the attack chopper I'll be sending to you."

"Roger that." Shadow warrior one returned to the business of battle.

The pilot of chopper one sent a quick text message to the pilot of chopper six, ordering him to retrieve the primary after the building was hit. Next, he got on the com to the entire squad. "Chopper squad, break formation."

The choppers broke formation and started to circle around the Hewitt office building. Broadcasting and police choppers started to gather now. Attracted by the sudden show of helicopters, pedestrians on the ground stopped their present business and looked up to watch the spectacle. Once their positions were reached, the choppers entered into hover mode, waiting for the signal to attack. In each helicopter, one pokemon capable of a strong hyper beam was released from pokeballs and positioned for the attack. Pilots checked in to report their readiness. A return signal from the lead chopper ordered the choppers to pivot mid-air so that the pokemon aboard had nothing but a clear shot at the building.

7:38:57

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7:38:59

7:39:00

Lucario paused mid battle and kneeled on the roof top. I noticed and sent a telepathic signal of confusion. Lucario quickly responded with a signal of great alarm. "Master! More enemies in mindless birds have surrounded this steel tree! They're about to destroy the steel tree!" Knowing that steel tree meant building and mindless birds meant aircraft of some kind, I looked quickly to my right. I saw twelve choppers encircle the building and take up positions to deliver a powerful broadside. With adrenaline coursing through my body a mile a minute, I failed to hesitate a second. "Everybody down!" Everyone grounded to the rooftop dropped and held on.

The next second, twelve hyper beams emerged from the gaping jaws of multiple unknown pokemon, soared through the air, and breached the steel, glass, and stone of the building. Twelve massive explosions sent shockwaves barreling through the air and ripping through the structure. I felt my insides vibrate as the shockwaves ripped through. Heat waves from the shockwaves blew through the rooms of the building, vaporizing papers and igniting desks. Glass shattered, raining billions of razor-sharp shards down on the streets below. Stone cracked, shattered, and melted before the hyper beams. Steel columns bent from the heat now that the anti heat material painted on them was knocked off. The whole building shook violently. Cracks spread in the weakened roof top.

It refused to stop there. The twelve helicopters started to orbit around the building, dragging the hyper beams through more of the building. They weaved up and down several stories to cover as much of the building as possible. Where one helicopter missed, the next helicopter in line hit with deadly accuracy. More glass bullets flew down upon the streets. More steel beams bent and hunks of stone from the walls flew downward. The insides of the building acted like a giant bonfire, producing fires that acted like creatures, licking and devouring everything flammable. Glass melted, papers and desks burned. The smoke produced filled the building and flew out through the destroyed walls. The massive clouds of black and gray smoke floated upwards north of three miles into the sky. Police and broadcast helicopters, along with many of the UAVs readjusted their positions to attain clear camera shots of the building. The smoke covered the rooftop and forced me to half close my eyes.

Ten seconds passed excruciatingly slow as I waited for hyper beams to cease. Looking over at lucario, I saw him have trouble standing on the shaking rooftop. Surprise stung me. Seeing lucario work hard to attain half steady footing shocked me, considering he had the ability steadfast. Looking over at Orion, prone on the ground, I didn't see him. Panic replaced surprise in my head. Below, I felt the hyper beams cease, but the building kept shivering. I trembled as I stood and scanned the surroundings. Where were the five foes and their pokemon? Orion and his pokemon were gone too. "Lucario, up. Orion's gone and those foes are gone too." Lucario stood up and we ran to the edge of the building. There, I felt constant gusts of wind and the smoke start to clear. Emerging from the smoke, I saw a helicopter with two rotors rise up. From my position, I caught a glimpse of Orion's limp form on the chopper. The men aboard wore masks and goggles, obviously desperate to hide their faces. The chopper rose up faster and faster. Sooner than I could say, lucario had an aura sphere ready to hurl. I swung my arm to signal him to stop. "No. You make that chopper go down, Orion goes down with it." Lucario failed to throw the aura sphere, but he continued to hold it between his paws.

I turned and produced three pokeballs to summon my pokemon back. With flashes of red, all three returned to their pokeballs. "Lucario, find a nearby building, hopefully downwind." Lucario scanned about with Aura and finally pointed in the downwind direction, south. That was good enough for me. We ran. With the building literally crumbling to dust beneath us, we ran. Lucario took the lead, reached the edge of the building first, and jumped. I followed him telepathically, reached the edge of the building, and leapt through the smoke held in the northern wind. With the power of Aura at my back, I flew further. Next to lucario, I coiled my feet to absorb the impact of the landing. I had just leapt an entire street and onto the rooftop of the next building.

Together with lucario, we ran across the rooftop. From this building, we jumped an alleyway to the next office building. Here, we found ourselves out of the smoke clouds. Turning, I truly saw the carnage of the attack. The whole top half of the Hewitt building was totally enveloped in black smoke. Twelve helicopters flew fast off to the South East away from the sight of the attack. On the streets below, the police and fire departments were busier pushing people as far away from the sight of the attack as possible. Other buildings in the neighborhoods were also evacuating as quickly as they could. Pieces of the Hewitt building rained down onto the streets below.

Lucario and I traded telepathic signals of shock and remorse. "Lucario, what's the structural strength of the building." Lucario reached out with Aura and scanned the building. "The primary steel beams are holding firmly for now master. But the massive weight of the crumbling building above is proving to be too much strain. I suspect the building will collapse in about ten minutes." More remorse. More shock.

Shadow squad watched the carnage with silent satisfaction. If only the populace of the world knew what they were doing was righteous and true, they wouldn't be nearly so resistant to their efforts. People of the world called them terrorists. Shadow squad knew the truth. They were freedom fighters, not terrorists.

Shadow warrior one received a com signal from naval command. Pushing the com device, he responded. "This is shadow warrior one responding to hale."

"This is naval commander Deiderich. Has the primary been secured?"

"Affirmative sir. Secondary strike team is taking him to you now via a separate route to avoid tracking by the police."

"Excellent. Have you identified the secondary target?"

"Negative sir. He wore a black cloak and veil. None of us saw his face clearly enough to make a read out. What are your orders concerning the secondary?"

"The secondary target was meeting with the primary, most likely to discuss topics about our operations. Therefore, we must assume that the secondary has very dangerous information on hand and must be treated as the primary target. Hunt him down."

"Yes sir, we'll hunt him as soon as we have his location."

"Aerial drone spotted him running on the building rooftops south of the Hewitt building."

"Roger that. Shadow squad moving to intercept."

"Naval command out."

"Shadow squad out."

7:45:57

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7:45:59

7:46:00

"Lucario, are you reading any dark intentions nearby?"

Lucario looked around for a while. "Yes master. Many. People are so shocked and angry at the destruction of their steel tree. Many want to do something to have revenge."

Blast it. That was always the problem with being close to people who had experienced a great tragedy such as this one that had just occurred. Lucario couldn't distinguish the dark intentions of the foes from those of the pedestrians.

"Master! Five people with dark intentions are coming our way."

That was them. "Where?"

"Incoming from above."

I looked up soon enough to dodge the incoming flamethrowers. The rivers of fire struck the rooftops where I and lucario were just standing, leaving scorch marks. Five hydreigons floated down through the air. The lead hydreigon rider talked into the com device. "Visual contact on the secondary target."

Blast it! "Lucario, run!" We started to run quickly across the rooftop. Behind us, the hydreigons launched constant attacks at us. Lucario and I ran faster and faster across the roof. Coming to the end of the rooftop, I lifted y right arm and aimed it at the edge of the roof. A harpoon attached to a thin steel wire flew and impaled itself into the roof. "Lucario, jump!" I jumped first over the roof, holding onto the steel wire. I swung over the side and flew around. Like a pendulum, I swung around and into the building through a window. Before hitting the building, lucario jumped and caught my outstretched hand.

We crashed through the window together and landed on our feet in the middle of an office business floor. Business men and women in nice suits and ties stopped everything they were doing and looked at us. What an odd scene it must have been, to see a man in a black cloak and veil accompanied by a rare lucario crash through the window on the thirty-eighth floor. A second of awkward silence passed before I said, "Excuse me. You may all want to clear this floor immediately. As in right now…" I gestured to the elevators and staircases before I and lucario started walking briskly through the complex. The business men and women refused to move. I counted mentally, "Three…two…one…" Behind me, one of the vicious hydreigons ripped through the wall, creating a big opening to the outer world than I did. The dragon ripped and clawed its way through the office complex. People started screaming and running to the escape routes. I and lucario actually conversed about this: "Why does it take for a massive dragon tearing through the wall to scare these people after seeing a strange man and his pokemon rip through the same wall prior."

"You must not be as scary as you think you are master." Lucario replied. I chuckled. We ran.

With the hydreigon charging in behind us, we sprinted as fast as we could through the office complex. Taking a hard right, we jumped out the window and dropped down thirty-eight floors to the street below. Producing an Aura shield, lucario and I cushioned our impact, literally hitting the ground running. Above us, four hydreigons flew after us while the fifth busied itself climbing out of the building. Two of the pursuers dropped their hydreigons down. Fifty feet above the ground, they threw pokeballs from which emerged two haxoruses on the street. Next, they withdrew their hydreigon mounts into their pokeballs, allowing themselves to drop down onto the haxoruses. Their new steeds roared and charged forward after us. The last three pursuers continued after us by air. I knew we needed an escape. "Lucario, what did you say was the structural integrity status of the Hewitt building?"

"I said it would fall soon master. What are you planning?"

"We're going back to that building." I looked down at my watch. 7:50 A.M. We didn't have much time left. "Step on it lucario." Producing a pokeball from my robe, I opened it and released zoroark. "Zoroark, delay the enemy." Zoroark jumped into action, running down the street at the oncoming haxoruses. He produced illusions, making himself look like a Groudon and the entire city look like it was sinking into an expanding pool of lava. All five of the assailants hesitated for mere seconds before continuing on through the illusions. But those seconds gave me and lucario the best opportunity to escape.

Taking a sharp turn left down an alleyway, we ran past dumpsters, cardboard boxes, piles of trash, and a couple of shady looking guys. Out of the alleyway on the other side, we turned left and sprinted up the street. On our right, the street was occupied by police squad cars and multiple fire trucks driving to the sight of the latest terrorist attack. In the sense of urgency, no one gave any mind to an odd cloaked figure and a lucario sprinting on the sidewalk. Pedestrians moved aside for us without so much as a complaint.

Our escape from the pursuers was short lived unfortunately. Flying on the winds over the skyscrapers, three hydreigons emerged and came diving like birds of prey upon us. Out of the alleyway behind us, the two haxoruses emerged. People around us screamed and ran for cover in the nearby buildings. The lead hydreigon unleashed a furious hyper beam from above. The energy of the blast ripped through the concrete sidewalk behind us. The shockwave of the explosion hit both I and lucario like a hammer. One of the ground pursuers put a boost of speed and closed the gap. I dared a look behind me to see the angry expression of the axe head-like pokemon behind me. In my peripheral vision, a black wolf flew through the air and tackled the haxorus with a strong aerial ace. The haxorus backed off of me and faced the angry expression of zoroark. At such close range, zororark, without any command from me, unleashed a powerful night daze onto the haxorus and its rider. The other haxorus changed course to attack the zoroark. Thankfully, I withdrew zoroark into its pokeball, right before a sharp dragon claw ripped through the air where zoroark used to be.

I and lucario continued to run. The hydreigons above continued to close the distance. Lucario rushed ahead and jumped atop a light pole. Standing steady atop the light, lucario unleashed aura sphere after aura sphere at the pursuing dragons. Unable to dodge the blue spheres of energy, the hydreigons took the hard hits and fell back from their pursuit. I caught up with lucario and we continued our sprint.

Turning a corner into an alleyway, we cut through the city block and found ourselves less than a hundred yards from the Hewitt building. The police and fire department had set up a barricade to keep people from approaching the smoking building. From this range, I could see the building quiver in the wind and from the shock of having twelve hyper beams rip through its sides. I and lucario ran forward and pushed through the crowd. Two police officers stood in the way with a herdier, blocking our path. They saw us pushing through the crowd and shouted out warnings to us. I threw a small explosive device into the midst of the crowd. It produced a loud bang, causing everyone to scream and the police officers to become distracted. Lucario jumped first, leaping over the barricade and the two police officers. Distracted by the rare pokemon jumping over their heads, the officers refused to notice me leaping over their heads and joining lucario on the other side. Together, we ran to the Hewitt building. After producing an aura sphere, lucario hurled it at the glass front doors. We ran through the opening produced by the aura sphere and deep into the building. All the while, the Hewitt building swayed in the wind, apparently ready to give way any minute.

7:55:57

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7:55:59

7:56:00

The lead hydreigon rider saw the cloaked figure and the lucario jump over the police barricade and run into the Hewitt building. Getting on the shadow squad com channel, he said, "This is shadow warrior two. I just had visual of the secondary target running into the Hewitt building."

Shadow warrior one on his haxorus on the ground voiced everyone's surprise through his response. "What?"

"Yes sir. That's what I saw."

"How long until the building falls?"

"Structural diagnostic revealed that the building will collapse any minute. What are you going to do?"

"Shadow warrior three and I are going after them. Keep a visual from the air." With that shadow warriors one and three on their haxoruses ran through the alleyway, cutting the city block, and running through the street to the Hewitt building. Upon reaching the police barricade, the two haxoruses tore through the resistance. One hundred yards of hard travel and they found themselves in front of the Hewitt building. Never losing a step, the haxoruses charged through the glass front doors. Once through, they entered the main lobby. Smoke through the ventilation shafts filled the room with a thin layer of smoke, giving it a hazy appearance. There, in the center of the lobby, stood the secondary target and the lucario. The haxoruses stopped short of the target and shadow warrior one raised his hand. "Stop! It's over assassin." He saw no expression flash across the features of the cloaked figure. Instead, he heard only dreaded words from the assassin. "No. It's over for you. Lucario, use earthquake!"

The lucario jumped high and came down, slamming its paw onto the ground. A shockwave spread across the ground. Soon after, the ground began to rumble and shake. The ceiling shook and started to cave in. Glass shattered and walls gave way. Steel beams, weakened from fire and explosions, now gave way to this horrendous force of nature. Within the massive construct of the building, steel beams snapped like twigs. Floors caved in and stone cracked. Starting at the fortieth floor, the building began to collapse floor by floor. As each floor tumbled down on the next, more weight came downward. The top part of the tower began to lean and fall onto the street. Pedestrians ran for dear life and screamed themselves hoarse. The rest of the tower continued to collapse. In the main lobby, huge blocks of stone fell to the earth. Shadow warrior three fell, completely encased in a pile of rubble. Shadow warrior one dodged and weaved, trying to find the exit. But the top part of the tower fell into the street, forever blocking the exit. The next second, the floor above fell down with half a million tons of steel, brick, and concrete. In an instant, everything went black.

Outside, shadow warriors two, four, and five heard nothing but an empty crackle on the com channel. The entire building had collapsed, leaving behind nothing to be remembered but scars. Upon impact with the ground, the tower produced a smoke cloud that spread like wildfire through the entire city. Carried by the northern wind, the smoke cloud flew like a roaring creature in its search for prey. It enveloped buildings all the way to the water front, where boats found themselves in the midst of the smoke. Cargo freighters off the coat dared not come any closer, seeing the entirety of Castelia City enveloped in this impenetrable cloud of smoke, dust, and ash. All time stopped. Nothing could be seen to be moving within the dust cloud. The shadow warriors above the scene continued to hover, looking for signs of life. A signal came in on the com channel. "This is naval commander Deiderich to shadow squad."

Shadow warrior two picked up the call. "This is shadow warrior two to naval commander Deiderich. We do not yet have confirmation of the death of the secondary target."

"What of shadow warrior one?"

"He and shadow warrior three were in the Hewitt building with the secondary. Negative confirmation of their deaths either."

"Roger that. Return to base immediately."

"What of the rest of shadow squad?"

"Treat them as MIA and return to base. Now."

"Yes sir. Shadow squad out." The three hydreigons turned their heads south and flew with the speed of magnet trains. On the way, shadow warrior two began to fill out mission report. Primary target: neutralized and obtained. Secondary target: MIA. Shadow warrior one: MIA. Shadow warrior three: MIA. Mission: success.

7:59:57

7:59:58

7:59:59

8:00:00


	5. Chapter 5

The following takes place between 8 A.M. and 9 A.M.

Out to sea, away from prowling eyes, three hydreigons landed on the flight deck of a massive submarine. Their riders dismounted and returned their mounts to their pokeballs. Three attack helicopters and a cargo chopper already occupied the flight deck. Much to the surprise of shadow squad, naval commander Deiderich walked across the flight deck to meet them. Despite being tired and covered in ash, shadow squad snapped to and saluted naval commander Deiderich as he walked up. Deiderich saluted back with a fist to his chest. "Welcome back shadow squad. My condolences on the loss of shadow warriors one and three." Shadow squad remained silent. Naval commander Deiderich continued. "Their loss will never be forgotten. However, we lack time at the moment. The high commander requests that the primary be transported back to home base. Therefore, I'm ordering you three to escort the primary back to base. He's already been prepped for transport and is presently in the cargo chopper behind you. Each of you takes one of the attack choppers and make sure the primary reaches home base. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir!" all of shadow squad said in unison.

"Good. Transmit your mission report to me en route to home base. Someone will meet you there and you will deliver the same report to them. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

"Very well. Dismissed!" With that, naval commander Deiderich turned and departed.

Shadow squad turned and walked over to their respective choppers. Within a short few minutes, all four choppers were in the air and flying to the west by north west. Two attack choppers proceeded in front and the third took up the rear, forming a triangle around the cargo chopper and its precious cargo. Aboard the cargo chopper, Orion lay strapped to a metal board and drugged into a coma. All six of his pokemon lay less than five feet away in a tight safe box. Drugged and strapped down, all Orion could meditate on was his own fate.

Through the thick fog of dust, ash, and smoke, a police armored car proceeded slowly with its low beams on, its driver attempting to navigate the shrouded streets of Castelia City without incident. In the passenger seat, Steven sat and could only wonder. How could twelve terrorist helicopters enter Castelia Airspace completely undetected? How could the police and law enforcement have missed something so big? After the harbor attack, there were police helicopters and drones in the air. Security was at its tightest. How the #!*% did they miss twelve freaking helicopters flying low over the city and taking down an entire building?

"Steven." The voice of the driver shook Steven out of his wonderment caused stupor. "We're here."

Steven silently nodded and exited the armored car. Once out, it felt like he had entered a world without feeling or anything. It was an empty world; a ghost town. No one walked the streets. Every step he took brought forth more dust off of the ground. The streetlights gave no light at this hour in the morning. A car parked by the side of the road was completely covered in ash and dust. Out of the murky fog, a person walked slowly to Steven. Steven stopped and studied the man. His face was completely chalk-white. Not just his face, but his arms and legs too. His whole body held a layer of the dust and ash that covered the city. He walked onward completely unaware of everything happening around him. His eyes gazed upwards slightly and looked at where the sky was supposed to be visible if not for the clouds of smoke. Steven shouted to him. "Hey you. Is anything wrong? Can I help you?" The man kept walking, as if he'd never heard what Steven had said.

"Shell shocked." A police chief walked up next to Steven. "And I'm not surprised. After what happened, I feel less than 100%. Here…" he handed Steven a white mask like those used by doctors in emergency rooms. "Take this. You'll need it to keep all this dust out of your lungs." Steven gladly took the mask and slipped it on over his head. "This way. The remains are over here." They walked together through the fog of smoke. Behind them, lights from numerous ambulances and fire trucks approached steadily. First responders were already on the scene, excavating through the rubble with excadrills. A ring of steel pillars rose from the rubble like a crown with broken tops. Much of the rubble had sunk into a huge crater beneath the site of the attack.

Steven stepped atop the pile of rubble. The massive pile rose several more feet above the ground. The police chief joined him atop the pile. "The damage was catastrophic. When the building collapsed, it caused many of the surrounding buildings to experience some damage. We're evacuating them right now and bringing in some experts to study the damage." Steven looked around at the surrounding buildings, but couldn't study them through the clouds of smoke. "What else is there?"

"When the tower fell, it fell in to the street and caused a lot of damage. The highway's going to be blocked for a long time. Also, there was a subway under the street, under the far lane. The tunnels' caved in, forcing us to stop all incoming traffic."

Steven nodded. "At least it wasn't as big as it could have been."

"No, thank goodness. It's expected that causalities will be low for this attack. No more than twenty or so people?"

Steven straightened in apparent shock. "Why is that?"

"Apparently, the fire alarm went off inside the building several minutes prior to the attack. Everyone evacuated, yet no one reported a fire. A miracle from some invisible protector says some people. A stroke of luck says I."

The fire alarm went off several minutes prior to the attack? Could it be? "Thank you. Do you mind I move forward onto the rubble pile? I have an excadrill with me and I can help the first responders."

"Be my guest. Goodness knows how many more dozens of people we need to clear rubble out."

Steven nodded. He pulled a pokeball out and summoned his own excadrill. Immediately, the two started moving higher onto the rubble pile. Once the first responders were out of sight, Stevem turned to excadrill. "Excadrill, look around for signs of life. It's possible that we have a friend around here somewh…" A mass of rubble to Steven's right suddenly glowed and lifted upwards. He jumped back in shock and excadrill bared its claws. The mass of rock and rubble moved through the air and then dropped to the ground next to the massive hole. A single creature leaped out of the hole and landed next to it with an aura sphere readied between its paws. A lucario. Steven withdrew excadrill before battle ensued. A second dark shape leaped out of the hole and landed next to lucario. It was a man, wearing a black cloak and veil. The robe held a layer of dust, giving it a gray look, and its edges showed signs of wear and tear. Steven couldn't believe his eyes. "Malik? Is that you?"

I too couldn't believe my eyes. Fancy meeting Steven in a place like this. "It is Steven. What are you doing here?"

Steven looked absolutely flabbergasted. "What am I doing here? Forget me. What the bloody #!*% are you doing here?"

I gave him the quick 'be quiet' signal and motioned him to walk a little farther through the piles of rubble. "Keep your voice down. I don't want every officer and first responder charging in on me. Where are the first responders?"

Steven pointed off in the direction of the street. I nodded. Steven went back to his first question. "What are you doing here buried in rubble?"

"I was in the tower during the attack."

"What?" Steven was now beyond surprise.

"Yeah. I was meeting with our mutual friend here when the attack took place."

Steven thought about that for a second. "So you're saying the attack took place because you and Orion were meeting here?"

"Exactly."

"Am I also to suppose that you were responsible for the fire alarm that scared people out of the building?"

"You can."

Steven grabbed both my shoulders with an anxious look in his eyes. "So tell me. Did you get the information from Orion?"

"Yes…and no."

Steven stepped back with a funny look. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, I got the information from Orion. It's all on a hard drive that I have in my possession, but the information is encrypted and only Orion had the decryption key. He didn't get it to me in time."

"Okay. Then explain to me what happened."

Thus, I began the long process of explaining all that happened in the past hour. "To start off with, I met Orion on the forty-seventh floor just as we planned. Lucario held a sniper's position on the rooftop to watch for incoming foes. Orion gave me the hard drive, but didn't give me the decryption key until he was sure we were safe. If the information as decrypted right then before the attack, the information might have fallen into unwanted hands. Soon after we met however, lucario sighted five targets flying in on dragon pokemon. Hydreigons, I believe they're called. Considering both I and Orion had zoroarks with us casting illusions, the terrorists must have technology that allows them to see through illusions. We ran up to the rooftop to do battle with the terrorists and I ordered lucario to hit the fire alarm to scare people out of the building. There on the rooftop, we did battle with the five foes."

"What did they look like?"

"They wore black clothing and black overcoats. I don't know what they called themselves though. They battled quite fiercely and used more powerful pokemon than they originally let on they had. The in the height of it, one of them used a stun gun and brought Orion down. I brought out two more of my pokemon and commanded Orion's pokemon, but we were still outnumbered almost three to one. Still, we fought. I guess our foes got annoyed and ordered a secondary strike. Next thing I knew, twelve helicopters were flying in and surrounding the Hewitt building, blasting it with hyper beams. The force of the explosions forced me and my pokemon down. The smoke covered the roof top to the point where I couldn't see. In the confusion of the moment, one of the foes captured Orion and took his pokemon. After the hyper beams ended, I saw that Orion was gone and ran to find him. Last I saw him, he and his pokemon were aboard a single helicopter flying with the other eleven to the south east. The other five foes were gone too apparently. I withdrew my pokemon and me and lucario made a dash for it. We jumped off the Hewitt building into the next block."

Steven exhaled. "So they took Orion and you made a run for it before the building collapsed. How did you end up inside the building again?"

"Apparently, those first five guys were given orders to hunt me down. I and lucario ran for it. Two of them chased us on the ground riding haxoruses. Lucario had told me that the structural integrity of the building was weak and the tower itself was about to fall, so we ran back to it. After jumping the police barricade, we ran inside into the lobby. The two haxorus riders followed us inside. I told lucario to use earthquake and that brought the building down. The two haxoruses and their riders died instantly. Lucario and I conjured up an Aura shield to protect us. And now, here we are."

Steven exhaled as the tale ended. "So Orion gave you the encrypted information on a hard drive, intending to decrypt in due time. Then you two are attacked and he's captured by terrorists. You defeat two of the five attackers by collapsing the Hewitt Building. And here you are?"

"Precisely."

"Any clue as to the plans of the terrorists?"

"No clue. The fact that they needed Orion alive says something, but I don't know."

"Well, Orion has been the greatest obstacle to the terrorists since the beginning."

"True, but they could have more easily killed him and his pokemon rather than capture them. There has to be a reason why they would want Orion alive."

"Obviously." Steven sighed again. "More dead ends and more destruction. Do you have any clue as to how to get the data decrypted?"

I thought for a little while. "I do have one idea."

"Care to disclose that information?"

"No. I'm keeping this pretty close to the chest…" I patted my chest, where I had stashed the hard drive. "…both figuratively and literally."

Steven nodded with apparent understanding. "Do you need anything?"

I nodded. "I need a way out of the city."

"Why not use that handy device on your left arm." Steven pointed to the portal-creating device. "I know you have the ability to travel to the reverse world."

"Too open. I never travel in broad daylight by reverse world, especially in populated areas. I can make an exception for this, but I need to get out of the city and away from the human population. Any ideas?"

Steven mulled that over for a while. "How about a migration?"

"Sorry, but I'm not a pokemon."

Steven shook his head. "No. I mean a people migration. For the past six months, the population density in cities has decreased by five and a half percent."

I was shocked. "Why?"

"Fear." Steven made it sound like it was the most obvious reason ever. "Maybe you've forgotten what it's like to feel fear. Fear makes people do stupid things. When afraid, people shut down and forget to think. Ever since the terrorist attacks started, people have been trading life in the city for life in small towns and the country so to stay out of danger. After today's attack, I suspect many people will be leaving the city."

I shook my head in desperation to understand the enigma of it all. "It makes no sense."

"It should. You assassins feel no fear. But the common folk do. After seeing a whole tower toppled in less than an hour by terrorists, their fear will drive them from the city. Not only will that, but everyone in the world be scared. And the terrorists haven't made a single demand in the past six months. Nothing is scarier than an unseen foe that attacks for no reason."

"There is always a reason. These terrorists have devoted more resources to this war than we suspect. There is a reason driving them forward." Leaving that discussion with that affirmation, I turned my thoughts to an equally important item of business. "What's the status of the interrogation of the harbor bombing suspect?"

Steven growled. "Slow. Torturously slow. The suspect has requested full immunity for his crimes, signed by the regional governments of every region. It's taking a long time."

I also growled. Assassins never got involved in politics. Politics and we assassins were dead opposites. Politics took things slow and rarely got the job done. Assassins moved quickly and with the power to finish the job. "Just get it done. That suspect is the one who can unravel all of the terrorists' plans."

"Will do. I'll get back to the police. I'm assisting them at the moment in the investigation of the terrorists."

"So if you're helping them, why didn't you know that the attack was taking place?"

"No one knew. Twelve helicopters and five hydreigons slipped below the radar. We never saw it coming."

"Don't give me any of that, 'we never saw that coming' crap. You had twelve blasted surveillance drones in the air before the attack."

Steven adopted a confused look. "What are you talking about?"

"I saw twelve police drones fly into Castelia Airspace after 6:30 A.M. They flew a standard police surveillance flight pattern over the city. They were still there when the terrorists flew in."

"I don't know what you're talking about Malik. I was at the police headquarters all morning. They kept me apprised of everything happening. We had a couple of helicopters around. A majority of the security was focused around the harbor. But there was not a single drone in the sky."

Now I was confused. "I saw those drones. They had the same paint scheme as police drones. They were watching the city in their flight pattern…" A thought came to my mind.

Steven noticed. "What is it?"

"I and Orion both had zoroarks casting illusions. The terrorists might have found out that we were meeting in Castelia City, but they could have never known what building or floor in a city this large. And with the illusions, no one would know. The terrorists must have a piece of technology engineered to see through illusions. Those drones must have been sent by the terrorists to find me and Orion. That way, they could have found us without looking suspicious."

"So you're guessing that the terrorists have the capability of putting surveillance drones over any city?"

"Not only that, but it's possible that the harbor bombing was planned to give the police to raise security over the city. Surveillance drones wouldn't look suspicious at all while they searched for me and Orion. This whole thing was about capturing Orion."

Steven whistled. " #!*% . These terrorists must have more resources than we originally anticipated. First the international attacks, and now this."

"Steven, you have to get back to the police and inform them of this. If the terrorists have the capability of putting disguised drones in the air to watch everything, then the police need to act. Also, be careful _who _in the police you tell."

"Why?"

"Orion told me that he suspects that the terrorists have infiltrated the police forces of Unova."

Steven looked flabbergasted. "That's impossible. We would know something by now."

"I just handed the police a suspect who's been captain of the Royal Unova for who knows how long. No one suspected him and you've got him clapped in irons."

Steven growled again. "You have a point. I'll keep this close to the chest. But this is a serious matter."

"War is a serious matter Steven. The whole world has watched an entire tower collapse in the middle of Castelia City. This has passed beyond the realm of serious. We are now in the realm of shadows, where nothing is known or foretold. We wander like blind creatures, trying to make sense of it all, never knowing the path that we are currently walking upon. We are blind, deaf, and dumb, wandering though this, the shadow of war."

Steven slowly nodded. I continued. "Now that Orion is gone and I'm left with nothing but encrypted data on the terrorists, it looks like it's up to me to stop the terrorists."

Steven nodded again. "I and the police will assist you however we can."

"Don't count on it. I'm a stranger in black robes and wearing a veil to hide my face. People are easily frightened by what they don't know. The police would rather arrest me than assist me. They would also arrest anyone who knows me. You must deny ever knowing me Steven. Keep communications to a minimum. You're my one guy on the inside and I will need your help in the future."

"I'll gladly give it, if only to stop the terrorists."

"Good. I'm leaving the city. Don't look for me. Stay here and learn what you can. Transmit any pertinent information to me when you have it."

"Very well. Good luck."

"To us all." I turned and ran alongside lucario as we left the rubble heap. The massive clouds of dust enshrouded the city of Castelia like a thick fog. Hiding would be easy. Stealing transportation would be easier. Running through the dust, I and lucario finally arrived on a sidewalk several blocks away from the remains of the Hewitt building. There, a red car sat on the side of the street, collecting the ash from the tower's collapse. Opting for the traditional approach, I broke the driver's side window with my elbow and worked quickly to deactivate the alarm. Lucario scanned around with Aura. "No one's coming, master." Good. I started the business of hot wiring the car. With a rev of the engines, the car turned on. With a smile, I sat comfortably in the driver's seat and unlocked the car.

Lucario opened the passenger's side door with psychic and sat as comfortably as he could in the human seats. "Master. Shouldn't zoroark cast an illusion to hide us?"

"No. That's how the terrorists found us in the first place. We can't risk it. We'll just have to try and get out of the city to a place where we can go to the reverse world without arousing suspicion." I shifted the car into the driving gear and we drove off.

8:15:57

8:15:58

8:15:59

8:16:00

The cargo chopper and the three escorting attack choppers topped the mountains on approach to the mountain base. Communications between the choppers and the flight control towers were exchanged back and forth. "Mountain base, this is cargo chopper 5-871 with primary onboard, requesting permission to dock."

"Roger that chopper 5-871. Please transmit authorization code for entry."

"Roger that flight control. Authorization code is Alpha, Two, Six, Four, Nine, Dash, Echo, Two, Two, One, Bravo."

A moment of silence passed as the code was authorized. "Roger that cargo chopper 5-871. Authorization code is confirmed. Request to dock granted. Proceed to platform Alpha 7."

"Roger that flight control. Squad en route to platform Alpha 7." The choppers veered off slightly to the right on their way to the assigned platform. Upon arrival, two of the attack chopper circled around to watch the flank. The cargo chopper, escorted by the third attack chopper, landed on the platform, where several dozen soldiers in black uniforms and surrounded by pokemon stood guard. The two attack helicopters remained in the air, circling around on patrol.

The doors on the side of the cargo chopper opened, allowing a gurney with Orion strapped on to exit. The multiple guards on the platform took Orion on the gurney and rolled him across the bridge connecting the platform to the mountain base. Orion's sedated and bound pokemon were rolled in after Orion. Once safely inside the mountain base, the last two attack choppers landed on the platform.

From each of the attack choppers, one of the shadow warriors exited. They rallied in the center of the platform to be met by an envoy. "Shadow squad, the high commander requests your presence in his command center immediately."

Shadow squad looked at each other with curiosity before following the envoy into the mountain fortress. The envoy led down twisting corridors and onto multiple elevators. Finally, upon exiting one elevator, they found themselves entering a large room, with a set of table and chairs in the center for meetings and a very large desk on the far side of the room. Behind the desk, the only window in the room allowed someone to look upon the room below, which featured a very impressive round table that showed real-time information on the Unova region. Looking at the window stood a man in a black uniform, with three silver cords decorating the front of it. The envoy saluted and left, leaving shadow squad in the room.

Without turning, the other man spoke, "I must congratulate you on your success for capturing the primary from the middle of Castelia City shadow squad. My condolences on the loss of your two members. Their loss was a worthy one. After all, we now have the primary in a prison cell to be interrogated." He turned and faced shadow squad. "I'm the high commander."

Shadow squad snapped to attention and saluted. The high commander returned the salute. "At ease shadow squad and have a seat." Shadow squad exited from attention and took seats at the table. The high commander also took a seat at the far end of the table. Pushing a button, he activated the screen that made up the top of the table. Using his fingers as styluses on the touch screen, he opened files and sent them to the far side of the table to shadow squad. The files opened and showed multiple aerial videos of Castelia City. While shadow squad watched the videos, the high commander spoke. "Your operation appeared to work well. Give me the operation in your own words."

"Yes sir. Once the aerial drones confirmed the location of the primary, we flew in under the radar to engage the primary. Somehow, they knew we were coming before we arrived. I'm convinced it must have been the secondary…" and shadow warrior two retold the tale as best as he could.

All the while, the high commander rested his head on his two hands and studied shadow squad. When they finished, he said, "I've seen footage of the secondary in combat. But tell me what you gathered from facing him."

"He had many years of experience in battle. His pokemon trusted him fully with whatever he commanded. What personally impressed me was the synchronization between him and his lucario. The two fought as though with one mind. One knew what was needed before the other commanded it. They communicated without words, but the two remained in sync."

The high commander continued to look at shadow squad with an unwavering stare. "What else did you gather?"

"He belonged to the ancient order of assassins."

"And why would you believe that?"

"Sir, when you passed the order to create shadow squad, we studied the fighting styles of ancient trainers. Among the styles, we trained in the same way as the assassins, focusing on speed and attack combined with stealth, rather than on defense. When facing the secondary, it was like we were facing a mirror image of ourselves. His lucario was so fast and powerful, we found ourselves facing a significant threat."

"Interesting." The high commander mulled this information over. "Shadow squad, there's a reason I summoned you here. After reviewing the information, I'm quite certain that the primary gave important information to the secondary. If this is true, then the secondary target, the assassin, must be hunted down at all costs so that he will not prove dangerous to the operation."

"But sir. He was in the Hewitt building when it collapsed. No one could have survived that."

"Do not counteract my orders. this particular assassin is very dangerous and most certainly survived the destruction of the Hewitt building. He is still alive." The high commander stood up and walked back to the window. "There's just one problem. The primary has been taken down and time still turns normally. The final pieces of the operation are moving into position. We cannot afford to delay the operation any more than it already is by expending massive amounts of resources to hunt down the assassin. On the other hand, untouched, the assassin can prove to be an incredible threat to the operation." He turned back to face shadow squad. "I'm giving you three the assignment of hunting down the assassin. You will have whatever resources you require at your disposal. However, you cannot delay the overall operation in the Unova region more than it has been delayed. You will operate outside the command of anyone. You will only take orders from me. Am I understood?"

Shadow squad stood as one and saluted. "Yes sir!"

The high commander saluted back. "Dismissed." Shadow squad left. As soon as they were gone, the high commander pushed the com button on his desk. "Professor Zenger, I request our presence." The high commander released the button, not needing to hear the professor's response. Several minutes passed before a ring at the door signaled the arrival of Professor Zenger. The high commander pushed another button on his desk, opening the door. Professor Zenger, in a white lab coat and with a laptop computer under his arm entered. "You summoned me, high commander?"

"Yes I did. I thought you might want to hear the good news that your illusion-detecting device worked perfectly. The operation to capture the primary was a complete success."

The professor frowned at the news. "That means nothing to me."

"Oh, but it should. The fact that your device worked should give you cause for great rejoicing. Your dreams are finally being realized."

"At what cost? How many people had to die this time?"

The high commander held up his hands. "Oh, come now professor. Let us not weary our minds with the trivial information."

The professor lowered his head and quieted or a while. "So do I earn my freedom now?"

The high commander laughed a jovial laugh. "Ha ha ha. That was quite a joke professor. You are finally learning to have a sense of humor." Returning to a more serious note, the high commander said, "No. I require your services once more. Creating a device that can detect and map out illusions is impressive in itself. But that technology is becoming more and more common. What I require is a device that isn't quite so common in the world."

"And what would that be?"

"You created a device to find illusions. Now I want you to create a device that can can cast illusions."

The professor stared dumbstruck. Finding his words, he said, "That's impossible. Nothing can create artificial illusions."

The high commander picked a touch pad computer off his desk. "According to your research into the subject of illusions, it is possible to cast a convincing artificial illusion. Now I'm giving you the opportunity to make good on your research."

"I can't do it."

"No, you couldn't when you conducted this research. When I found you, you were some poor student studying human psychology in a college dorm. I took you from there and gave you all the resources and money you could ever want to make your dreams a reality. What was impossible then is possible now."

"What makes you think that I'll do anything for you?"

"The same reason why you made the illusion-detecting device. I have something you value. Last I checked your family was still fine. Your wife and two kids were still healthy and living in that apartment building. But if I'm frustrated, say by your noncompliance, and then I can vent my frustration on them. I can make sure they die slowly, first with your kids, and then with your wife. In fact, I can tell my soldiers to take video for you to personally watch. After their dead, you will have nothing. Not even your advance science can bring them back from the dead. You will have no more usefulness, and I'll have to dispose of you and get someone to replace you. But that would be an incredible waste of human life, wouldn't you agree? So I will not harm our family so long as you build the technology. Oh, and every day you delay, expect to have the body parts of your children delivered to your doorstep."

Professor Zenger was practically in tears at this moment with the thoughts of his family. He slowly nodded and left without another word. The high commander smiled. You just needed to know how to deal with types of people. He returned to watching through the window. So, an assassin was here in Unova of all places. Interesting. This would make things most interesting indeed.

8:36:57

8:36:58

8:36:59

8:37:00

At least, it was 8:37 at the time I entered the reverse world. Time continued to run differently. At least travel was much faster here than in the real world. I and lucario ran around pillars of sand on our way to the north. After ditching the car by a pool of water in the desert, I created the portal that carried me and lucario to the reverse world. Before that, I found that what Steven had said about the power of panic was true. The highways heading out of Castelia City were crowded with vehicles of all kinds as people tried to get out of the city. Many of the cars were loaded down with luggage. It shocked me how many people were actually evacuating the city. The second shocking fact I had observed was the lack of security. Terrorists could have easily set up on either side of the highway and blown up cars all day long. The whole world was turned upside down, almost as much as the reverse world.

Thankfully, the car radio worked fine and caught incoming transmissions from local radio stations. The whole world looked on with shock at the destruction of one of Castelia's skyscrapers. The news that very few people were hurt didn't make any affect on the world audience though. Transportation worldwide was at a complete standstill. Planes were grounded, boats were halted, and trains didn't run. The only public transportation that continued to run was the city buses, but those were expected to stop soon. The Johto and Kanto regional governments were calling for increased security measures to ensure their safety from possible terrorist attacks.

Cynthia, the champion of the Sinnoh Region, called for an emergency meeting of the league of champions. The champions of every region dispatched the order for every gym to be closed and every gym leader to join the effort against the terrorists. The battle frontier closed down too, as the battle brains too joined the fight against the terrorists. The Unova league had been closed, partly by order of the league of champions and partly because so many trainers had dropped out to protect their families or friends at home. Ever trainer who could hold their own in battle against versatile opponents were called to help in protecting towns and cities from terrorist attacks.

In the reverse world, the distorted version of the Castelia attack took the form of countless pieces of rubble, cloaked in smoke and ash, floating in zero gravity. Personally, it looked weird. However, I set my sights forward. I had one idea how I could get the information that Orion gave me decrypted. It was a long shot though. But I still moved forward with it, which meant that I and lucario ran quickly through the reverse world to the north. Sand pillars gave way to upside down mountains and normal gravity gave way to low gravity. Up ahead, another distorted city rose in the distance. The multiple buildings rose in different shapes and twisted in weird patterns.

Short of the city, I looked around for a reflective surface. A shimmering blue and silver field gave me exactly what I needed. I activated the device on my left arm and created another portal. Me and lucario jumped through and found ourselves flying through the air over a pond. The portal closed and we landed in cool clean water. The shoreline several yards away held no people or pokemon. So far, so good. We swam the several yards and reached the shoreline. Lucario found the first big enough tree and jumped into the upper boughs to have a better view of the surrounding territory. "No one is around master."

I nodded and sent back an 'I understand' signal. "The one we need to meet is inside the city. How do you suggest we get there?"

"We could try using zoroark master. It's possible the terrorists haven't stretched their operations this far."

"Possibly. But if they have, then zoroark's illusions will stick out like a small candle in a dark room."

"It's a risk master. We should take it. It's the fastest way of getting the information decrypted."

I couldn't come up with any other plan. "Okay. Let's do it." I released zoroark and we all proceeded into the city under the illusion. The words, "Welcome to Nimbasa City" met us as we entered. Once the entertainment capital of the world. Now it was a dark city with a feeling of danger around every corner. A huge river flowed through the middle of the city, where ferries and party boats once roamed. Now the river was empty of all transportation. Huge carnival lights used to light up the entire city all day and all night. Now the ferrous wheels were still, the generators collected dust from under use, and the carnival sights were completely empty of people. On the northern side of the river, massive stadiums were home to the great sports of the world and usually housed people in the hundreds of thousands. Now they too were empty of crowds. Through the massive region wide train system, Nimbasa City was the unofficial center of the Unova region. But no trains came in and none went out. The whole city was like an inhabited ghost town. The people I passed on the streets kept their eyes down and away. No one dared make any eye contact with anyone, either out of suspicion or fear or both. Police cars were unusually common on the streets. Officers and their pokemon patrolled the streets and alleyways. But I could still tell that they too felt suspicion and fear. Now I saw that Steven was right. Fear was a powerful tool that held the people in a vice grip.

We crossed a bridge to the northern side of the river and walked a straight line to one of the many apartment complexes on the riverside. "Lucario, take up a position out of sight on the roof." Lucario ran out, disguised by an illusion and jumped to the top of the five story apartment building. I and zoroark walked up stairs to the third story and stopped. I looked around with Aura for the target. After a while, I found the target. We walked down several halls until we reached room 345. I knocked and waited for a response. A voice on the other side quietly whispered, "Who is it?"

I whispered back, "I'm a friend of Orion." The door opened quickly, revealing a young woman dressed in a long skirt and sweater. The bags under her eyes told the tale of a long night. But her eyes were intense, as if sleep couldn't make them weary. "Come in. Quickly." Me and zoroark entered and the woman closed the door. "Who are you?"

I gave the appropriate signal to zoroark, who dropped the illusion over me. The woman gasped when she saw who I was. I lunged forward and closed her mouth with my hand so she wouldn't scream or shout. "I said I'm a friend of Orion and I need your help."

8:55:57

8:55:58

8:55:59

8:56:00

Shadow squad stood atop a bluff overlooking the Eastern river of Unova. One had a laptop computer and was scanning for data. The other two were currently in an animated discussion about their mission.

Shadow warrior four: "How do you suggest we find the assassin?"

Shadow warrior two: "I don't know yet. Did our UAVs over Castelia see him leave the city?"

Shadow warrior five: "Negative. Plus, it would appear that the police know of the drones and tried to shoot them down. Naval commander Deiderich ordered them away."

Shadow warrior two: "So are you saying that we won't have aerial surveillance to help us in our mission?"

Shadow warrior five: "Exactly."

Shadow warrior four: "I have an idea. If the assassin hopes to succeed in taking the entire operation down, he'll need help. Look through the primary's contacts and see if he has any in Unova that the assassin could contact with."

Shadow warrior five started scrolling through data on Orion's contacts. "First one. Steven Stone of the Hoenn Region. Once was the champion of the Hoenn Region. Now is in Unova as a political consultant and as a representative of the Hoenn Region."

Shadow warrior two: "It's possible the assassin has contacted him. However, we have others watching him already. Next."

Shadow warrior five: "Cedric Fletcher of the Hoenn Region. Defeated the Hoenn League three years ago. Earned second place in the Sinnoh League two years ago. Won the Unova League last year. Known to have contact with the primary. Currently in the Sevii Islands."

Shadow warrior two: "Negative. We want those who are currently in the Unova region."

Shadow warrior five: "Next. Yusuf Weaver of the Johto Region. He's defeated the Johto and Kanto Leagues and is traveling through the Unova Region. Entered the Unova League, and then dropped out to go home. Uncertain as to whether or not he's still in Unova."

Shadow warrior two: "He's a possibility. Keep him on the list. Next."

Shadow warrior five: "Trisha Weaver of the Johto Region. Sister to Yusuf Weaver. She has a PHD in computer engineering from the University of Unova and is currently living in an apartment building in Nimbasa City. She and the primary have been dating for a couple of months."

Shadow warrior two: "She's most likely right now. If not, she can at least lead us to her brother. The assassin must have known about her. And those computer engineering skills must come in handy. We'll go for her. Move out squad."

With that, all three shadow warriors loaded up on their hydreigons and flew fast to the East towards Nimbasa City.

8:59:57

8:59:58

8:59:59

9:00:00


	6. Chapter 6

The following takes place between 9 A.M. and 10 A.M.

"What do you mean you need my help?" The woman asked in shock.

I lowered my hood and veil, revealing my face to her. "My name is Malik. I am a friend of Orion from Sinnoh. I need your help."

"But why do you need _my _help?"

"You name is Trisha Weaver, right?"

"Ye-yeah. How did you know?"

"Orion's told me about you. About you two."

The woman, Trisha's eyes widened in shock at the news I had delivered. "He-Orion told you about us? I don't even know you."

"Look, I know it's a lot to take in, but I really do need your help. Orion needs your help. Everyone in Unova needs your help."

"Yeah, but. Where's Orion?"

I sighed, not liking to have to break the bad news to Orion's girlfriend. "He's been captured by terrorists."

She was surprisingly silent. Her legs trembled and she dropped down. I caught her and eased her over to a couch nearby. She sat on the cushions and simply stared silently at the floor. I kneeled in front of her and tried my best to explain things. "Orion, for the past six months since the terrorist attacks began, has been fighting the terrorists harder than anyone. Over those six months, he's gathered much information on them that could lead to an end to these terrorist attacks. He put all the information on a hard drive. He told me that it was all heavily encrypted. I remember once that he told me that he had a girlfriend who had a PHD in computer engineering and that you had taught him how to encrypt computer data. So I've come hoping that you can help me. I need you to decrypt this data so that I can use it to stop these terrorists. I can rescue Orion, but I need your help to do that."

She looked up and our eyes met. Hers were filled with tears, which continued to fall while she tried to speak words. "Do…do…you really…mean that…you…you can save…him?"

"Yes. I promise that I can save him. But first, I need your help."

She wiped her eyes. "I…I can try."

"Thank you. That's all I ask." I removed the hard drive from under my robes. "How fast can you decrypt this data?"

"It depends on what kind of encrypting program he used. It could take very little time or a lot."

"Assume that he wouldn't even want the good guys to be able to decrypt it."

"Then...then it'll probably be a loop encryption program. Can I see the hard drive?"

"Yes." I handed the hard drive over. She took and walked over to her computer which was set on the dining room table. She plugged in the hard drive and accessed the files. "So, what's a loop encryption program?" I asked.

"It's one I personally designed." She said as she rummaged through her own personal data files. It's the kind of encryption that you have to go through repeatedly with the decryption key to decode everything. That's why it's called a loop encryption."

"Can't you just translate the encrypted data?"

"You talk about encryption like it's a language that can be simply translated and then read. But to decrypt something, you need the decryption key. Every key is unique for every encryption. The trick to decrypting everything is finding the decryption key. From there, it's a semi-simple matter decrypting whatever encrypted document you have."

"Semi-simple?"

"Yes. It takes a while to decrypt an entire document. In the case of a loop encryption, you have to run the decryption key through the encrypted material multiple times before its fully decrypted."

"Brilliant."

"Don't you think so? Through high school, I got through by hacking into the school computers. Not something I'm proud of, but I found I had a talent for computers. So I moved here to study for my PHD in computer engineering. And that's when I met…Orion." Saying his name brought forth a new batch of tears. She set her mind back to work and opened up the hard drive. "You say all of these files are encrypted?"

"All but one. But Orion told me that it was a dummy file, meant to trick anyone reading it by displaying false data while deleting the real data."

To my surprise, Trisha giggled. "That's so him. He was always one for trickery and deception."

"Well, you would know."

Trisha nodded as she tapped multiple times on the computer and studied the encrypted files. "Well, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that I have confirmed it's a loop encryption program covering these files. The bad news is that it'll take a while."

"How long."

"Don't take me at my word, this is just estimation. For a loop encryption program, it'll take thirty minutes at least to find the decryption key and another thirty minutes to decrypt the documents. That's the best I can give you."

"That'll have to do. Start it."

"I already have."

9:8:57

9:8:58

9:8:59

9:9:00

"…and what we are seeing is what appears to be the largest human migration ever seen here in the Unova region. Highways are jam packed with cars and trucks, most of them loaded down with luggage, as people try desperately to get out of the cities. And this isn't happening just in Castelia City after this morning's attack, no. We see evacuations taking place in Oppelucid City, Driftveil City, and Nimbasa City. People are panicked at this morning's attacks that have taken place all around the world. The death toll from this day alone is estimated to be over four hundred. We have our reporter, Lily; live on the scene of the latest attack in the Unova Region. Lily?"

The TV screen changed to show a middle aged woman wearing a business suit standing atop a building overlooking the remains of the Hewitt building. "Yes, I'm here in Castelia City. If you look behind me, you can see the pile of rubble which was once the Hewitt building. The police and fire department have cleared much of the dust and ash, and you can see from here, countless excadrills are working hard to excavate the rubble, looking for survivors. Representatives from the police and fire departments say with much confidence that causalities will be considerably low from this attack, due to the odd fact that the fire alarm went off inside the building several minutes prior to the attack. In fact, according to the first responders, more deaths from the attack on the Hewitt building came from outside of the building and not from within."

"That is odd Lily. Do the police know why this odd occurrence took place?"

"They don't have a clear answer for that question. Some say it's a miracle, some say it's great luck. But no one knows. I guess we can be glad that it did happen when it did."

"I guess we can. Any word on how the regional government is responding to this?"

"There has been no word on that. Whatever the regional government decides to do, it had better be fast."

Steven pushed the button on the TV remote, muting the TV. He took yet another sip of his coffee. At the police department headquarters in Castelia City, it was very empty that morning. Every officer in the city and in the surrounding districts was on call and on duty throughout the city. More guards had been set on border defense, patrolling the outskirts of the city by ground and air. Skyarrow Bridge had been reopened for the sake of the migration, but still held the largest security defense with cops patrolling the land, air, and sea. The shipping lanes were now officially closed. Freighters out to sea had been forced to dock in other ports. Castelia City was now under complete lockdown. Nothing was getting in.

Plenty however, was getting out. In the past hour, it was suspected that more than a thousand people had left Castelia in favor of other settlements. What angered Steven was the fact that the police department wasn't stretching their security zones further out to protect more citizens. The police chief had said it would further weaken their citywide security. As if it wasn't weak enough. Five hydreigons-riding terrorists and twelve helicopters, plus those dozen UAVs snuck into Castelia Airspace in broad daylight. At least all known terrorists were out of the city. Police forces had forced the last UAV to retreat fifteen minutes ago.

Speaking of the police chief, the same person walked up to Steven. Steven turned and faced him. The police chief looked tired, with wrinkled uniform, baggy eyes, and an expression that could only tell of the multiple cups of caffeine the chief had probably drunk that night. Under his arm, he held a bulky folder filled with papers. "Excuse me, Mr. Stone. I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping us with something."

Steven stood up. "What is it?"

"Well, I know you're only in Unova on official political business, but I know you're a very strong trainer from Hoenn and I could use your help out in the field."'

Steven nodded. "Sure. Politics gets boring and I need something to loosen up."

"Excellent. I was wondering if you could investigate the local mercenary group in Castelia City."

Steven failed to conceal confusion at this statement. "Mercenary group?"

"Yeah. It's a new line of work that risen since the beginning of the terrorist attacks. Strong trainers band together into little armies that hire themselves out to people who feel they need protection from terrorists. According to Unova laws, there's nothing against such mercenary groups so long as they do not do anything illegal. However, police departments have been directed by the regional government to investigate every mercenary group in Unova to make sure that they aren't involved with terrorists. A new one set up shop in Castelia last week and we need it checked out for suspicious activity. However, we do not have enough squad leaders."

"Why not just send in your officers?"

"It's really about a show of force. If we make it clear to the mercenary groups that we are the ruling authority, they don't stand in our way. That's where the squad leaders come in, since they are the appropriate show of force we need. Unfortunately, since the latest attack, I don't have one to spare, so I was wondering if you could do the job."

Steven shrugged. "I guess I can. What do I do?"

"Oh, nothing. The squad you'll be leading will take care of everything. You just need to be the show of force."

"So I'm the beartic protecting the lillipups?"

The chief grimaced at the snide comment. "Pretty much. Not too hard."

"Fine. I'll take care of things."

"Great. The squad is waiting outside."

Steven nodded and left out the front door. There, he found an armored squad car with a bunch of officers loaded up. Steven got into the passenger's seat in the front and introductions began. "Hey guys. I'm Steven Stone. I'll b your body guard for today."

Officer one: "Good to have you Steven. I'm Ralph. These are my guys. Introduce yourselves guys."

Officer two: "My name's George."

Officer three: "I'm Sven."

Officer four: "Mine's Mike."

Steven nodded at each of them. "Great to be working with you. So where are we headed?"

Ralph in the driver's seat accessed the GPS. "The mercenary group we're visiting is in the Western harbor district."

Sven in the back of the squad car audibly moaned. Steven faced him. "What's wrong Sven?"

"The Western harbor district is mostly an abandoned neighborhood. It's not the nicest place in the world."

"Well, I've probably been to worst places."

The squad car drove off and they weaved through the streets. They took a route along the waterfront, where Steven had an excellent view of the harbor. The only boats left running in the harbor were police patrol boats, which skipped over the waves at fifty per. In the silence of the squad car, Steven tried to strike up a conversation. "So the chief tells me that to investigate these mercenary groups, you need a strong arm to handle with them."

Mike answered first. "You got that right. Mercenary groups aren't any pushovers. Many of the trainers who enter them come from rough backgrounds, have fought their way to the Unova League at some point, or they're wilders."

"Wilders?"

Now George spoke up. "That's the nickname we police have for trainers like them. Wilders don't come from any settlements marked on your average map. There's a lot of wild land off to the South West. That's where a lot of them come from. The land is uncultivated. Only the adventurous or crazy wander out there. It's not a nice place to be. Lots of wild pokemon live out there away from human civilization."

Mike took up the story from there. "Anyway, terrorist attacks affect everyone in some way. Before the attacks began, few wilders came this way, except to fight their way through the Unova League to prove their worth. Most wilders are quite strong since they've lived in the worst of conditions to train in. But when the attacks started, more and more started flowing out this way. I think it was the second month into the terrorist attacks and people finally start realizing the dangers of daily life. Mercenary groups get started. Strong trainers come together and train together. Once their strong enough, they rent their services out to people who have the money. Most wilders join the mercenary groups and earn top dollar there."

George stole the story back from Mike. "Mercenary groups are no pushovers. When we say strong trainers, we mean genuinely strong. Never has anyone under the protection of those mercenaries ever been attacked. They know how to train pokemon there. And their teams are made up of a diverse set of pokemon so that all weaknesses are covered. If they're confronted by who appears to be a weaker opponent, they won't bother respecting them, even if the person was the president of the Region. That's why we have strong squad leaders accompany the squads to investigate the mercenary groups. All of the groups have complied with our investigations when they see the leader. It's just a necessary precaution."

Steven nodded. "So what happens if there's no squad leader in the district?"

George and Mike looked at each other. "That situation has never come up. Mercenary groups always set up in the big cities where the richest clients can be found and where, thankfully, there's always at least one squad leader. You will never find a mercenary group set up in a small town."

Now Ralph spoke up. "Which doesn't mean they won't operate in small towns. If the client has the money, they'll operate anywhere. But their bases are always set up in cities. The bases are the only places we have to investigate. Speaking of which, we're here."

Steven looked out the windows of the squad car and saw they had just entered an old abandoned dock. Someone had set up a fence around four dock houses. Two men with their pokemon watched the squad car approach. One of the talked into a radio strapped to his vest. The squad car slowed to a stop short of the men and Steven stepped out. He immediately threw three pokeballs, out of which came his excadrill, klinklang, and archeops. The archeops, an ancient pokemon possessing a multicolored body, flew above their heads on feathered wings. "My name is Steven Stone, former champion of the Hoenn Region. I'm here representing the police department of Castelia City. I demand that you let the officers under my charge to investigate your facilities, to make certain that your organization isn't associated with terrorists." The two guards looked at each with nervous expressions. Steven looked back at Ralph, who looked back with an expression of awe and surprise. The next look Ralph expressed said it all: "I think you took it a bit far." Steven simply smiled.

A third man exited one of the dock houses and walked towards them. His head was wrapped in a red bandana, and black shades hi his eyes from Steven's. He looked over Steven, his pokemon, and the officers waiting in the squad car. "I will let you enter if what you say – that this is simply a routine inspection – is true."

"I assure you sir. It is."

"Very well." The mercenary leader waved at his two guards, who opened either side of the fence gate. Steven walked forward through it with his pokemon. The squad car drove slowly behind him. They all stopped outside of the first dock house. Ralph and the others exited. Ralph walked over to Steven and said, "Okay, we need their client lists, phone records, and financial information."

Steven turned to the mercenary leader. "You! Leader. We need your client lists, phone records, and financial information, now." It was clear now that Steven was having fun with his new gig. The mercenary leader ordered via radio to fetch the information. Steven gestured to the leader. "You, come with me." The mercenary leader walked over to Steven and the two started walked down to the nearby pier.

"What is it, Mr. Stone?"

"I want to personally assure you that this is just a routine inspection to ensure the safety of the citizens of Unova."

"Mr. Stone, I want to make something clear. You cops insult us with these "routine inspection". Our job is safety of the citizens, something it would appear you cops are incapable of accomplishing. Shouldn't you be out there, stopping terrorist attacks, rather than bothering us?"

"In a way, we are protecting people by conducting this inspection. If it is found that your organization has connections with terrorists, we can stop future attacks."

"You insult us even more. We are in business to stop terrorists just like you cops. And given our record, we've done quite a #!*% of a job doing just that. Why would we be allied with those who we protect others from? That would be bad for business. What would it accomplish us to be allies with them."

Steven stopped and punched a finger into the mercenary's chest. "Let me make one thing perfectly clear. The police force is the governing authority of Unova. You respect it and its rules, and you'll stay out of trouble. We will stop these terrorists and anyone associated with them."

The mercenary shoved the finger away from him. "Uh huh. And how long will that take. While you cops have been playing a losing game of cat and mouse, we mercenaries have been doing real good by protecting the citizens of Unova. You know the difference between us mercenaries and you cops? You cops are slaves to the rules of your regional government. We mercenaries are not. We are not shackled by the rules of war. No. We respect the fact that this is war, something you cops have forgotten. There are no rules in war. You either subdue your opponent or are subdued yourself. We mercenaries don't follow rules, which means we get more done. Soon, the whole world will be turning to us mercenaries for protection, not the police."

With that, the mercenary leader turned and left. Steven stood there silent. As much as he wanted to disagree, he knew deep down that the police followed too many rules when it came to stopping the terrorists. While the police were busy fussing over rules, the terrorists were plotting and carrying out attacks against the citizens. The mercenary was right. In war, it was either subdue, or be subdued. And at the moment, it looked to Steven like the police was on the long road to being subdued.

Steven proceeded back to the police squad car, where the officers were wrapping up the inspection. Steven walked over to a pile of papers and picked up one. "Is this their finance reports?"

Ralph nodded. "Yeah. It all checks out."

Steven studied the information closely. "It checks out for their income to come through phony banks?"

The mercenary leader stole the paper away from Steven. "All income comes through real banks. We put the banks under false names so as to protect our clients. We protect our clients' information. If anyone has a bank and account number, you can track anyone."

Steven sighed and turned back to Ralph. "So you say everything checks out?"

"Yes. Their clean. We can head out."

"All right." Steven turned to the mercenary leader. "You keep out of trouble and we won't have any incident."

"You cops actually do your job protecting the populace from terrorists and we won't have any incident."

Steven fought the temptation to say something crude to the leader and loaded up with the rest of the officers in the squad car. After withdrawing his pokemon, Steven gave the order and they shipped out. The squad car exited the fence perimeter and rolled off through the abandoned part of the neighborhood back to the City. However, the journey was cut short, as a strange man ran into the path of the squad car, waving his arms for us to stop. Ralph brought the squad car to a jarring halt that forced Steven's head to lunge uncomfortably forward. After returning to his previous sitting position, Steven looked out the windshield at the man standing in front of the squad car. With a frustration-filled growl, Steven departed the vehicle and approached the man. "What's the big idea, jumping in front of us like that? Do you have a death wish or something?"

But the man did nothing but hold up his arms in a sign of defenselessness. "Please tell me, have you officers investigated the local mercenary group? Please tell me."

"We have. They're clean."

The man grew frantic. He started waving his arms around and yelling, "No, no, no! That's a lie. They're not clean." Steven looked back at Ralph with a look that said, "Get a tranquilizer for this crazy." Ralph nodded and started reaching for one. The strange man yelped when he saw what Ralph was retrieving and ran past Steven and started to pound his fists on the hood of the squad car to get everyone's attention. "Please. You have to listen to me. I'm not crazy. I'm one of the mercenaries and I'm telling you, they're not clean!"

Steven grabbed hold of the man's arms and whirled him around so that he could face him. The man's eyes were wide with fear and whatever else was running through his mind. "What are you talking about you're one of the mercenaries?"

"I am! I am! I'm telling the truth. You have to believe me."

"And what if you are telling the truth? How is that mercenary group not clean?"

"I have proof. I know that the mercenary leaders have had contact with the terrorists."

"What kind of contact?"

The man, once he saw that Steven would be open to his story, took a deep breath and began to tell his tale. "Well, it happened less than a week ago, a little after the mercenary group got established. Two people came in. At the time, I was working as a temporary secretary, so I was able to see the entire scene. What struck me as off was the fact that the boss immediately welcomed the two people into his personal office like they were best friends. He never did that with any other potential clients."

"Are you saying that you had never seen those two odd persons before?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. It didn't bother me much until the boss called my desk, asking me to bring in the required forms that new clients had to fill out to employ our services. I was about to retrieve those when I noticed that the boss had accidently and unknowingly left the line open. I found that I was able to listen in on the conversation taking place between the boss and the new clients. From that conversation, I could just tell that those two people were terrorists."

Ralph started shouting from the car at Steven. "Come on Steven, let's get a move on. He's a nobody."

Steven waved his hand at Ralph, signaling him to shut up. The stranger continued. "The terrorists were giving the boss and the boss of every mercenary group the same job."

"What was that job?"

"The terrorists wanted the boss to make as many clients as possible in the next week. The boss laughed at their proposal, saying that business was always slow. Then the terrorists assured him that it would be possible when the next attacks took place."

Steven stared in shock. "You knew about terrorist attacks in advance and you didn't inform the authorities?"

"They didn't exactly give any specific details about the attacks. But when the terrorists attacked Oppelucid City and Castelia City, I…I was scared. I knew I had to tell the authorities."

The stranger looked down at his feet in shame. Steven continued to study him. "What else did the terrorists tell your boss?"

The stranger looked up again at Steven and replied, "Well, the boss asked how soon the operation would move into effect."

"What operation?"

"Beats me. The boss never talked to us about any operation involving terrorists."

"What did the terrorists say in response to his question?"

"Well, not much. They just told him not to worry about that and just worry about getting more clients."

Steven thought of those words. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you mercenaries protect people from terrorists."

"We do. We do at that."

"Have you ever been ordered to drop your protection for terrorists to attack?"

"Never. We're strictly ordered to keep up our guard at all times."

Weird, Steven thought. "Why do you think terrorists would want you mercenaries to protect more people from their attacks?"

The stranger lifted his arms in a shrug. "I don't know. I thought it was weird too. But those two guys…knew stuff about the terrorist attacks. I can't explain it."

Steven patted the strange man's shoulder. "Don't worry. That's the kind of evidence we need. If what you say is true, then it could take us many steps closer to stopping the terrorists."

The stranger breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I only want to see people safe."

"As do I. Now what's your name?"

"Matthias, of Driftveil City."

"Well Matthias of Driftveil City, I'm going to have to ask you to return with me to police headquarters. You can serve as a witness against the mercenaries at their trial. We'll need a court order before proceeding to the more in depth investigation of the terrorists. That won't be too hard to acquire. We'll bring them to an end and make sure people are safe, I promise you."

Matthias smiled and Steven led him into the squad car. Once everyone was loaded up, the squad car resumed its previous course. Steven sat contemplating all that had happened and quickly made a mental note to inform Malik of what had transpired. The fact that the terrorists wanted the mercenaries to protect more people was an odd and very unnerving piece of information. Whatever they were planning, it wouldn't be good.

The squad car rumbled through the quiet streets of Castelia on the way back to police headquarters. Turning onto the quiet street that led to headquarters, Steven suddenly felt a lot more secure. Ralph pulled the squad car into the underground garage next to the large police building. Car parked, everyone exited the vehicle and walked inside. Steven personally escorted Matthias and met the officer on duty inside at a desk. "Inform the chief that I have a witness who has key information on a new terrorist plot."

The officer on duty looked closely at Matthias, then at Steven, nodded, and pushed a button to summon the police chief. While they waited, Steven took Matthias to a nearby seat and set him down. "Do you want some coffee?"

Matthias shook his head. "No. I'm fine now."

Steven nodded. A door opened behind them and Steven turned to see the police chief enter the room. "Welcome back Steven. Who your new friend?"

"Chief, this is Matthias, one of the mercenaries." Matthias stood to shake hands. No sooner did he stand that suddenly, his head exploded in a mess of blood and brains. The gore sprayed all over Steven and the police chief, who both yelled in shock. Matthias' corpse fell to the ground, allowing more blood to flow out onto the floor. Steven looked up past where Matthias stood to see a single bullet hole in the glass door allowing exit to the outside world. "Take cover!" Steven and the police chief jumped for cover and more bullets punched through the glass. The bullets struck the floor, chairs, and other pieces of furniture in the room. The officer on duty ducked just in time to dodge the two bullets that drilled through the wall behind him. At last, the glass doors shattered into millions of tiny shards that scattered across the floor.

Finally, the shooting stopped. The police chief moved slowly first, revealing his head to the general area. After several seconds of not dying, he exhaled and stood up fully. Steven stood up next, followed by the officer on duty. Through one of the doors on the side came Ralph and the rest of the squad. "Chief! What happened? We heard gunshots!"

The chief jumped into action. "You four, get out across the street. Someone just took pot shots at us and shot our witness. Arrest on sight. I want whoever it was alive." The four saluted and sprinted out the shot doorway.

Steven kneeled next to the remains of Matthias. He checked his pockets, hoping for the better. Nothing. Matthias didn't have any physical evidence on hand. All he had was his memory of the terrorists, and that had been destroyed when the first bullet went through his head. Steven punched the ground. " #!*% it! We were so close! #!*% !"

9:40:57

9:40:58

9:40:59

9:41:00

While Trisha worked, I sat on one of the couches in her apartment, waiting for results. Apparently, the program Orion had used was tougher than originally expected and it was taking a while to find the decryption key. Still, Trisha kept working. What drove her, I wondered. Was it love for Orion; a want to see him safe someday? I didn't know. I just knew that she worked at that computer with eyes set and her mind focused in immovable concentration. Standing, I walked around the apartment room, viewing the surroundings.

It was very simple. There was one couch, a lounge chair, a coffee table, and a bookshelf occupied by techie stuff in the living room. The walls were occupied by multiple photographs, all of which were of Trisha. Some had Trisha alone, while others had her posing with Orion, and still others with her posing with another guy. Curious, I asked Trisha. "Hey. Who's this other guy in some of your photographs? Was he your first boyfriend?"

Trisha looked up from her work. "Oh. No. That's my brother, Yusuf."

"Yusuf?"

"Yeah. He's some top notch pokemon trainer. We were both born and raised in Johto. He conquered the Johto and Kanto leagues. Me, I preferred my studies. I was sort of the nerd of the family. He was always about adventure. Well, one day, I told him about the Unova League. I just happened to be studying here in Unova at the university. The University of Unova is by far the best school in the world. So he came to compete."

"Did he ever win the Unova League?"

"I don't know. He was going to enter this year, but they canceled it because of the terrorist attacks. I don't really know where he is right now."

"Sounds like he's tough."

"He is. But deep down, he cares for something else more than battling."

"What's that?"

"Well, Yusuf's always been something of a mysteries fanatic. If you think I'm nerdy, you should see him when he's studying myths and legends. He has a legendary pokemon in his possession you know."

I turned back to her in shock. "Really? How'd he manage that?"

"Extreme luck I guess. He met this latios on his journeys and befriended it. Finally, the latios allowed him to capture it. Weird, huh?"

I nodded my head and went back to studying the pictures. Those of Orion were obviously from last year, given how young Orion looked. Looking back to how he looked in the Hewitt building, I wondered if he would be surprised at how he looked in these pictures. Ever picture of him and Trisha were of them both happy and laughing hysterically. They made a cute couple, I had to admit. "So when did you and Orion meet?"

Trisha sat back in her chair and sighed. "It must have been two years ago. He was in Nimbasa City for his gym battle and I had just graduated from college. We met by accident at the carnival. His pokemon and mine ran into each other and that's how we met." Trisha suddenly giggled. "I was kind of upset because when our pokemon met, his beat up mine. So I challenged him to a one on one pokemon battle. In one move, he beat me. That's when we became friends. We would call each other and talk, no matter how busy we were. When he competed in the Unova League last year, I cleared my schedule just to fly out and see him battle. After that was when we started dating. It was official. We were together. Shocked my family too. I mean, we were totally opposite. He was some hot shot trainer hanging out with the world's biggest nerd. He would try to teach me about pokemon battles while I would try to teach him about computers and programming." She giggled again. "I'm kind of happy to see that some of what I taught him actually stuck." She went back to work on her computer.

I smiled. When Orion told me that he was dating someone, I thought he was crazy. He didn't strike me as the type who would settle down. I heard Trisha speak up behind me. "So when did _you_ and Orion meet?"

"It was in Sinnoh. I was in Veilstone City at the time and he was some rookie trainer. He challenged me to a full sided battle. With only one pokemon, I swept the floor with him."

"You must be really strong then."

"I guess. I offered to teach him how to battle and train, so I accompanied him through the Sinnoh Region. Together, we kicked Team Galactic out of their political power. In the same year, Orion defeated the Sinnoh League."

"That's so cool. Orion always bragged about bringing down Team Galactic, but I thought he was just kidding around."

"He was in a way. Team Galactic still exists in the Sinnoh region, just not as a political party."

"Okay." Trisha pressed some more buttons and then exclaimed. "Hah! There you are." She turned to me and with a grin on her face said, "I just found the decryption key."

"That's excellent."

"It's still has a way to go. I'm inputting the decryption key into one of my own programs. It will automatically run the decryption key through the encrypted files until they are decrypted. I'd give it thirty minutes, maybe more."

"Good. The sooner the better."

Trisha pressed more keys and inputted the decryption key. "There. It's started." She stood and walked over to the couch, where she sat with a long exhale. "So tell me about you."

I walked over and sat in the recliner. "What do you want to know about me?"

"Like for instance why you wear a black robe and you had a hood and veil hiding your face."

"I see. The reason for that is that I'm an assassin."

Trisha eyed me weird and answered nervously. "So…you kill…people?"

I smiled. "No. I'm part of what is known as the order of assassins."

"Oh. What's that?"

"The order of assassins is an ancient order established thousands of years ago to promote justice and remove corruption. In other words, before there were regional governments, we were the law enforcement. We fought crime, removed corruption, and kept people safe. When we existed, criminals were afraid to look over their shoulders. However, outside of the order, the term assassin signified a trainer who relied solely on attack and speed, rather than defense. Many of the assassins of the order did the same, which was why we were so effective against crime, being able to move quickly and strong enough to deal a crushing blow to crime."

"Oh, that's cool. Obviously something happened, since I've never heard of you."

"Yes. The regional governments were established in each of the regions. At first, we assassins applauded the rise of the governments. Now, the people could govern themselves and we would no longer have to fight crime for them. At first, when the regional governments were weak, we assisted them in secret, making sure no corruption slipped into the system. As the regional government's power grew, we tried to coexist. However, they mistrusted us, since we were such a secret society. So we were forced back. Many of us accepted this, since it meant that the populace was finally taking care of itself. However, a few of our number – me included – see the regional governments as imperfect, given the fact that more crime exists under the regional governments than what existed during the reign of us assassins. But we too accepted this fact. So when the Sinnoh Regional Government was established and it controlled the entire region, we fell back to controlling one city."

"Ouch." Trisha commented. "That must have hurt to change from controlling whole regions to only controlling one city."

"It did in the sense that our order began to dwindle. When I first started my training as an assassin, there was less than a hundred assassins left, all of them lord assassins."

"What's a lord assassin?"

"A lord assassin is the second highest rank of assassin one can attain in the order." I replied. "The first highest is the title 'assassin king'. However, there are two few of the order left for anyone to claim that title. When I started my training, there was no assassin king. The lord assassins acted a democratic party, deciding everything by voting. I was one of the only four students there training to be assassins. By the time we all attained the rank of lord assassin, less than fifty assassins remained. From there, we continued to dwindle. After becoming a lord assassin, I took my training and with my pokemon, traveled on a journey to defeat the Sinnoh League. I did with relative ease too. However, when I returned to the home of the assassins, I found no one there. The order was sure to keep updated records of everything that occurred there. Reading the records, I discovered that the last of the assassins – twenty-three in total – had a final ceremony; a sort of 'parting of the ways' before everyone left. They traveled to different kinds of life as trainers, leaders, or other areas of their expertise. It was safe to assume that I was the only one who still bared the title of assassin. I continue to wear the customary black robes as a sign of that. As the last of the order, I decided to continue the order's original purpose. In the Sinnoh Region, I fought crime with my pokemon."

"And that's when you met Orion?" Trisha asked.

I nodded. "Yes. I met in my journeys to stop crime in the Region. At the time, Team Galactic was a brand new political party, slowly gaining support. Suddenly, through a very shocking and mysterious series of events, they managed to wrest power from the traditional political power and take control of the Sinnoh Region. I saw them for what they were: a crime organization seeping corruption into the politics of the region. When I encountered Orion, I asked for his help and he gave it. Together, we stopped Team Galactic on the political battleground and even though they still exist, the people are now resistant to them and their plans. I could not have achieved that without Orion's help. Or at the very least, it would have taken years without Orion's help."

Trisha smiled at that. Then something dawned on her. "So that's why you're in the Unova Region? To fight the terrorists?"

"Exactly. I was in Sinnoh at the time of the first terrorist attack there. Before then, we had all heard of the terrorist attacks that plagued the Unova Region, but we thought it was isolated only to them. We never realized the capability of the terrorists until they hit both Sinnoh and Hoenn. There were other attacks too that struck that message home to us. I fought as best as I could, but it was hard. The terrorists covered their tracks to well. Besides that, stopping their terror cells in Sinnoh wouldn't unravel their whole operation. A week ago today, Orion called me, said that for the past six months, he was fighting terrorists in Unova. He told me that he had information that might deal a crippling blow to the terrorists, but he needed my help. Well, he helped me against Team Galactic. I owed him. So I boarded the first flight out of Sinnoh going to Unova and prepared to assist my old friend.

"I landed in Mistralton City, but Orion wasn't there to meet me. Instead, he left a cryptic message that led me to Anville Town. He wasn't to be found there either. Another cryptic message led me to Driftveil City. There, I managed to receive a secure contact number to communicate with him. We finally arranged to meet in Castelia City…" I took a deep breath before continuing, "…this morning."

A whole second ticked by as I watched Trisha. She gasped and covered her mouth with her hands. "You and Orion were in Castelia City this morning when the attacks took place?"

"More than that." I took another deep breath. "Those attacks took place because of our meeting."

Trisha gasped again and I saw tears developing at the corner of her eyes. I continued: "Somehow, the terrorists knew we were meeting and attacked us. They captured Orion and destroyed the Hewitt building in Castelia."

Trisha's lower lip quivered as she tried to make words. "But, but, but…why Orion?"

"Orion has been fighting the terrorists the hardest for the past six months. Whatever information he had, it must have scared the terrorists enough that they would capture him alive. But once that information is decrypted, I can take up the fight against the terrorists and save Orion. I promise you."

"Please do. I can't imagine what I would do if Orion was…" She shut her mouth quickly to stop from forming the dreaded word. A silence filled the room. Trisha started to stare at the ceiling, possibly reminiscing about the past two years with Orion. I contacted lucario on the roof again and we traded information. Everything was status quo outside. Good.

Cutting the silence like a knife, a steady beeping rang from my arm-bound computer. I looked at the screen and read the caller ID. Steven. I pushed the button on my ear-bound com device and excused myself from Trisha's presence. Walking into the kitchen, I said, "Yes Steven. What is it?"

I heard Steven's voice come in loud and clear from the other side. "You got a minute?"

"I've got several. What you got?"

"Well, first, the interrogation of the harbor bombing suspect is still on hold. But the immunity agreement is nearly finished, so we should be getting information out of the suspect soon."

"Nice to know that that's still on the train."

"Yes. The other thing was that the police temporarily employed my services to investigate a mercenary group in Castelia City."

"Mercenary group?"

"Yes. They're groups of strong trainers that hire themselves out to people who want protection from terrorist attacks. Similar groups have sprung up all over the Unova Region."

"Now that's what you call taking advantage of the times."

"Yeah. A directive passed by the regional government about a month ago states that all new businesses, corporations, and unions can be investigated to make sure that they do not have connections with terrorists. So I and a police squad investigated the local mercenary group and I believe I've stumbled onto something that might lead to an unraveling of the terrorists' plans."

"What is it?"

"According to my source, this mercenary group and every group in the Unova region have been contacted by terrorists who want them to do a job for them in order to achieve an operation."

"What was the job?"

"They wanted the mercenaries to acquire as many clients as possible in the next week. Oh, and that job was given out a week ago. Whatever the terrorists have planned, it must be launching in the next twenty-four hours."

Confusion addled my mind. "What do these mercenaries do exactly?"

"They protect people from terrorists. And apparently, they have a perfect record. No one who has been under mercenary protection has ever been attacked. The system works."

"Are you saying that they're stopping the terrorists?"

"Well, they're not stopping the terrorists from attacking targets, but they are keeping people safe from terrorist attacks. And the people are everyday common folk with no odd connections or anything. All they have is a paranoia leading to the need for protection and the money to pay for it."

My mind tried to organize everything and all of the facts. If this was true, then… "That doesn't make sense Steven. Why would the terrorists ask mercenaries who fight them to protect more people? That's like having a one on one battle and asking your opponent to use six pokemon against your one."

"I know it's confusing. But I trust the source and what he said."

"Well, can you get anything else out of the source."

"There's a problem with that. I'm in the bathroom now getting cleaned up."

I paused a moment to process what he had just said. "Getting cleaned up from what?"

"I brought the informant, a mercenary named Matthias, back to police headquarters in Castelia and he got shot. He's dead."

I swore under my breath. "Did you find the killer?"

"No. But we did find two sniper rifles in the building across the street. No clues and no prints. But we did find a slip of paper attached to one of them. It said this: _In the day of shadow, in the fiery plain, only black misery, will you gain. _It's a piece of…"

"…poetry." I finished."

Steven sounded shocked. "Yes. You know it?"

"Yes. It's from a storybook that was first published in the Sinnoh Region. It's a story about these cruel humans living in a castle and they treated everyone else who lived in the area harshly. So harshly in fact, that the pokemon rose up and attacked the humans. The piece you just read is from the last part of the story, when the castle's been destroyed, the cruel humans killed, and the whole land razed to nothing but a wasteland. The whole book is full of rhymes like that. It was a children's book, meant to teach the readers to be kind to everyone."

"Hmm. Do you think there's any clue in there?"

"Maybe. But I don't think so. I think the terrorists are making a threat that this is what will happen and we can't do anything about it."

"And we're back to square one until we can interrogate the suspect."

"You keep that suspect safe. He's our last thread."

"I will."

"Good. I'm close to getting Orion's information decrypted. I'll contact you once I've had a look at the information."

"Excellent. We need a break here. People are fearful and the terrorists are planning something big. We need all the help we can get. I'll contact you with any developments."

"All right." I switched off the communiqué.

9:48:58

9:48:58

9:48:59

9:49:00

I walked back into the living room where Trisha was still staring at the ceiling. She looked at me as I entered. "What was that about?"

"Official business."

"Are you any closer to stopping the terrorists?"

"Maybe. Listen, do you have anywhere safe you can be? Somewhere where if you were to go, no one would know?"

"Uh, well, yeah. Why?"

"Once we're done here, I want you to go there as fast as you possibly can."

"Why?"

"I believe that the terrorists are planning something big that will take place in the next twenty-four hours."

"Bigger than what happened in Castelia? What could be bigger than that?"

"Please, don't ask too many questions. Just do as I said. For Orion's sake."

She sighed. "All right. I will."

"And don't tell anyone what I've told you."

"Don't worry. I won't."

"Thanks." I sat back down on the recliner. A full minute of empty silence filled the room. Trisha broke it first. "So tell me. How far are you willing to go to stop the terrorists?"

"As far as I need to."

"You mean you have no rules, no guidelines?"

"Rules will only slow me down. I have to be fast and agile, with strength enough at the finish to bring down the final blow. Rules will only slow me down."

"But surely you need some rules. How will you know how far is too far?"

I looked at Trisha for a moment. "What are you talking about?"

"Rules are what tell us how far is too far. If you have no rules, what's stopping you from going too far? You could be more of a hurt than a help." She sat up straighter on the couch. "We have a story we tell children here in the Unova region. There's this beautiful forest full of pokemon of all kinds. Then a family of purrloin come in. Instead of making friends with all the other pokemon, they opt to steal food from the other pokemon. A strong druddigon lives in the same forest and he has vowed to protect the pokemon who are having their food stolen. But the purrloin move too quickly through the forest for him to catch them. After many moons of this, the druddigon finally decides to finish off the purrloin once and for all. So he flies up and with his flamethrower, burns down the entire forest. The forest pokemon are left without homes, but the purrloin family is defeated and chased away. They never come back. The druddigon flies down victorious, only to find a charred forest and many homeless pokemon. You see, rules are necessary. How do you know that in your hunt for the terrorists that you won't 'burn down your forest'?"

I was silent for a long while. I hadn't prepared myself for that. What Trisha said seemed to make sense. Maybe.

Lucario's telepathic call hit me like a battering ram. "Master!"

"What is it lucario?"

"Three people with dark intentions are flying on pokemon our way."

"Is it by chance our old friends from Castelia?"

"Most likely master."

Brilliant. "Okay. Stay hidden until the last moment. Do not let them reach this building. You understand?"

"Yes master." I refocused on Trisha. "How much data has been decrypted so far?"

Trisha walked over to the computer and checked. "Only fifty percent. Why?"

"Because my pokemon on the roof has just sighted three terrorists incoming."

"What? Why are they coming?"

"It's because of me. They must have known about you and that I might contact you. Or they want to get leverage over Orion. I don't know. All I know is that they're coming, we need to get out of here, and I need to get you to safety. You understand?"

"Yeah. I can stop the decryption process and save the decryption program to another file so that it can be continued another time." She set to work on the computer.

"Give me the hard drive and I'll protect the data." Trisha nodded at my command. Meanwhile, I contacted lucario. "Status."

"They're half a mile out master and closing fast. I'm ready to meet them."

"Good. I want you to give us covering fire. Zoroark will act as the decoy while we escape to safer refuge."

"But master, they know how to see our illusions."

"I'm counting on that. When they get close, I want you to shoot every aura sphere you have until you're spent. Then run. I'll have zoroark decoy them and we'll make a run for it."

9:55:57

9:55:58

9:55:59

9:56:00

Lucario loved the tense feeling before the battle. Looking back to the Sinnoh League, he remembered the time when he and his master walked side by side onto the battlefield. That feeling of anticipation was unlike any other. And the best part about being his master's pokemon was that lucario got to feel that sensation multiple times.

In his Aura sight, he tracked the three targets on their pokemon closing fast. Closer. A little closer. It was definitely the three terrorists from the forest of steel known as Castelia, since they each rode a powerful hydreigon.

A little closer. Now. Lucario jumped out from the shadows and landed lightly atop the highest point of the apartment complex in full view of the terrorists. He drew his paws back and formed an aura sphere between them and hurled it. The aura sphere was quickly followed by another, and another, and yet another. Aura sphere after aura sphere flew from lucario at the oncoming terrorists. The hydreigons, unable to dodge the Aura driven projectiles, took the dangerously powerful hits and just barely managed to stay aloft. As they drew closer, they spread out, forcing lucario to spread out his shots. Lucario transmitted a telepathic warning to his master as he continued to hurl aura spheres at the hydreigons.

And then it happened. The hydreigons grew so separated, while lucario shot one, the others prepared hyper beams. Lucario saw them coming and launched another aura sphere. The blue-silver sphere evaporated one of the hyper beams. The other still flew at him. Lucario jumped milliseconds before the roof top below him exploded. All he heard was the jarring sound of the explosion and the ringing of his ears afterwards. Shards of debris struck him in thousands of places, and lucario was convinced he was bleeding now. He flew from the roof and to the ground five stories below. Unable to twist his body around, he had one last image of the hard concrete before his body made contact with it. Darkness clouded his view and lucario failed to feel anything else.

9:59:57

9:59:58

9:59:59

10:00:00


	7. Chapter 7

The following takes place between 10 A.M. and 11 A.M.

The rain poured down in a steady drizzle between Icirrus City and Tubeline Bridge. The water levels in the moor of Icirrus started to rise, forcing pokemon out of their temporary dwellings to higher ground. The water-type pokemon however, loved the rain and the rising water it brought, preferring very soggy land over the drier alternative. The humid air combined with the drizzling downpour made the area almost unbearable to dwell in.

The girl hiding from the rain under a tree noticed the rising water levels. Multiple pokemon around her started to run away from the water for higher ground. The girl had just woken from her nap to find her ankles soaked to the bone by the rising water. She jumped up and started to run. Unprotected by the shelter of the tree, the rain was now free to pelt her. Her hair, soaked through, stuck to her face. Her clothes and backpack were also soaked through, and she started to shiver, despite the temperature being eighty and humid. She ran from tree to tree, trying in vain to stay dry. Finally, she topped a rise and found a large, overshadowing tree that provided the shelter she required. Ducking beneath the branches and sitting next to the trunk, she sighed and checked the damage.

Her clothes, made up of tennis shoes, a long skirt, a t-shirt and an overcoat, hadn't taken too much damage from the rain. Her tennis shoes had holes in them, which meant her socks were soggy and disgusting with all the water they had taken. Her skirt clung to her legs with all the water it had taken in. Her overcoat had mostly protected her torso and t-shirt from the water. She removed her backpack and checked it next for damage. The flimsy backpack possessed multiple rips and holes, which meant that most certainly, water had leaked in. She opened the main pocket, where her only other set of clothes were. To her dismay, she found that they had absorbed much water from the bad timed drizzle. Checking the other pockets where many of her belongings were, she found the same results, sometimes seeing a possession submerged in water. It amazed the girl that these backpacks would be so well built to hold water in, but not keep it out.

She dumped her belongings into the ground. The change of clothes, she quickly hung up in the branches of the tree, hoping that they would dry soon. Next, she organized her possessions on the ground, and then dumped the water out of her bag and hung it up in the branches with her clothes. The laminated map of the Unova Region she had was still dry; she checked it and measured the distance to the river. Not far. Still, walking, it would take a while. And once there, what would she do. The girl shook her head. No. there would be time to think about all that later. Right now, she would wait for the rain to quit and then she could move on. When she reached the river, what she did would be clear then.

I heard the telepathic signal loud and clear. It hurt me almost as much as the impact hurt lucario. I fell to my knees, held my head, and gasped for air. Being this connected to lucario, we felt whatever the other felt. When lucario hit the concrete, the signals of pain transmitted excruciatingly loud across the link. I could hardly stand it. To remain conscious and feel those signals without passing out, it felt like my head was going to split in two. Finally, lucario blacked out and ceased to feel anything. The void of feeling floated across the link bringing me sweet relief from the pain. Despite lucario being incapacitated at the moment, the link connecting us still existed. I couldn't feel or hear anything from him, but I still knew he was there. Aura connected us like unbreakable cords.

Trisha eyed me with concern. "What is it?"

"It's lucario. He was hit and is unconscious outside on the concrete." Any further questions or explanations were cut short as the roof fell to pieces before the three jaws of a hydreigon. The silent rider looked at me. I realized that my entire head was revealed. With a single hand, I produced an aura sphere and threw it at the hydreigon. Unable to dodge, the hydreigon took the hit hard. Taking Trisha's hand, I tried to drag her out of the room. "Wait!" she protested. "My computer. I can't decrypt the rest of the data without it."

Realizing the computer's importance, I turned and looked for it. There it was, sitting on the dining room table. I moved for it. A large creature crossed my path, falling through the destroyed ceiling and landing on the table. The creature's clawed feet tore into the flimsy armor of the computer, smashing it beyond repair. I stopped dead and gazed into the angry eyes of the haxorus that stood before me. I replaced my hood and veil to hide my face and ran. Trisha ran on ahead of me.

We exited the apartment building and ran out. She started for the highway, but I pulled her aside and behind some dumpsters. Producing a pokeball, I summoned zoroark. "zoroark, make the illusion of two hidden people run off to the north." Zoroark's eyes glowed. To my eyes, nothing happened, but I knew that an invisible illusion was running out of the complex and to the north. Tearing out of the apartment came the haxorus from before. Its rider guided it onto the street leading north and after the invisible illusion. Above our heads, the two hydreigons and their riders flew north after the illusion.

I leaned back against the dumpster and breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Whew. I'm glad that's over."

Trisha was confused at the entire event. "What…what just happened?"

"I told zoroark to produce an illusion that would act as a decoy to lead the terrorists away."

"But I didn't see anything."

"Yeah. The illusion looked like two people who were hidden by an illusion. So naturally, we wouldn't see anything. Both I and Orion had zoroarks producing illusions for us in Castelia City. I theorized that the reason the terrorists found us was that they had a type of technology that could find illusions. Therefore, if those terrorists saw with their technology an illusion running off to the north, they would suppose that it was us and chase after us. By the time they realize their mistake, we'll be long gone."

"Oh." That was the only word that Trisha could form. For all of her knowledge, she probably didn't understand everything. "So what now?"

"I'm getting lucario." With that, I rose and ran out. On the far side of the apartment complex on the concrete sidewalk, the comatose form of lucario lay. I ran to him and quickly surmised the damage. His fur was ruffle with multiple bruises and bumps. From multiple cuts and scratches, thin streams of blood poured to collect into one pool on the sidewalk. With Aura, I studied the damage. No broken bones, no serious head trauma, no cut arteries. Good. As much as I shouldn't have left the pool of blood as evidence of my being there, I picked up lucario and ran back to Trisha.

Trisha never tried to hide her shock, surprise, and curiosity. Upon seeing the beaten and bloodied rare pokemon, she gasped and actually stepped back from lucario. "Do…do you think he's okay?"

"Yeah. Lucario's fine. He just needs to rest awhile. Is there anywhere in the city where we can hide until those terrorists leave?"

"Well, maybe. There are some abandoned train tunnels beneath the city that we can hide in. We'd have to go through the sewers to get there."

"All right. Let's move."

With lucario in my arms, Trisha running alongside me, and zoroark taking up the rear, we ran through the streets of Nimbasa. People on the streets gave us strange looks. How odd it must have seemed to see a cloaked figure carrying a bloodied and rare pokemon, accompanied by a lady and a zoroark running through the city. Turning a corner, we found an entrance to the sewers: the manhole. I set down lucario and removed the manhole cover to reveal a dark tunnel with iron bars on one side servicing as stairs. Lifting lucario and putting him over my shoulder, I stated slowly down the tunnel. Trisha followed after me, and zoroark took the rear, replacing the manhole cover.

The tunnel was pitch black. I couldn't see Trisha above me or anything below me. All I could do was feel for the next step and move slowly down. The sound of trickling water from below told me that we were close to the bottom. Sure enough, after several minutes of dissension, I foot found solid ground beneath. I exited the manhole tunnel and found myself in an even larger tunnel. The smell overwhelmed by senses and forced me to pinch my nose closed.

Next down the manhole tunnel came Trisha, I helped her down the last few steps into the sewer tunnel. Behind her, zoroark descended into the sewer tunnel, though it was much harder to tell. Zoroark's black body blended into the darkness of the sewer. Very little light filtered into the subterranean depths from above. From beneath my robe, I pulled out a light and flipped the switch. The bright blue-white light illuminated the tunnel for yards around. It was then that I saw the trash and piles of refuse that lined the walls. The center of the tunnel was submerged in water that flowed by slowly.

With the light lighting the area, I turned to Trisha. "Which way now?"

She had her nose pinched, so the words she spoke sounded completely different. "well, uh, I don't know."

I couldn't help but sigh. "Fine." I told her. In my mind, I reached out with Aura. This was usually lucario's job, but since he was incapacitated at the moment, I had to fill in. With Aura, I reached out into the tunnel. I couldn't explain it, but somehow, tapping into Aura somehow gave me such a warm fuzzy feeling inside, as though after millennia, I was finally doing what I was meant to do. It brought such satisfaction, I couldn't describe it.

With Aura, I felt like my arms were stretched into billions of tendrils which could stretch endlessly in any direction. With these tendrils, I studied the walls of the tunnel, studying the concrete, feeling every crack and imperfection. Next, I studied down the tunnel in both directions, looking for the way out. The Aura tendrils on my left found the tunnel connect into a second one which ran perpendicular to this one. I focused my mind even more and split the Aura tendrils into two groups to sweep each tunnel. Following the path o the flowing water with my mind, I found that the tunnel stretched for miles before ending in a sewer plant located outside of the city. Not wanting to travel that way, I withdrew the tendrils and focused on the rest of the sewer tunnels. Finally, one of the Aura tendrils found in the wall of the sewer tunnel a smaller tunnel that was blocked by an iron grate. Slipping through the iron grate, I led the Aura tendrils through the tunnel where I found yet another subterranean passageway. However, this one didn't hold sewer water or trash. Instead, the ground dropped down several feet, and the Aura tendrils found what appeared to be train rails.

"There it is!" I mistakenly said out loud. The sound of my words reverberated and echoed off the sewer's walls and tunnels. Trisha jumped from shock. "What is it?"

"I found the train tunnel. This way. But we must be careful to whisper from now on." I picked up lucario and with my other hand holding the light, I walked upstream around the piles of refuse and trash. Rounding corners and walking through more passageways, we traced a winding path under the city of Nimbasa. I still held onto Aura, mentally following the tendrils to my location. Finally, the light I was holding illuminated an iron grate on the wall. I set down lucario, handed Trisha the light, and set to work removing the grate. The edges of the metal held corrosion and rust, making extraction quite a difficult task. I strained against it until finally, with a great squeak of metal grinding against concrete, the iron grate popped loose. The sound of the squeak reverberated down the tunnel in all directions. Knowing the possibility of being discovered down here, I carefully set the iron grate down on a pile of trash.

I hefted lucario and set him first into the smaller passage. Next, I took the light from Trisha and lifted myself into the tunnel. With one hand I pushed lucario, and then pulled myself through the tunnel. Lucario found the exit first, forcing me to catch a hold of him before he fell through. Gently, I lowered him through the passage and onto the tunnel floor on the other side. I crawled through next. Turning back to the tunnel, I whispered, "Trisha. You next." I dimmed the light as best as I could with my robe so as not to blind Trisha while she crawled through.

When she arrived, I pushed a switch on the light to allow a blade on the bottom to shoot out. With a mighty swing, I stabbed the concrete wall with the spiked light in a place where I knew there were imperfections in the stone-hard material. With the light illuminating the surrounding area, I took stock of my surroundings. It was indeed a monorail train tunnel. The center descended several feet into the earth. At the bottom of the depressed section, I saw rusted rails in perfect lines stretch down the tunnel in both directions. Still whispering I asked, "Does anyone came down this tunnel anymore?"

Trisha shrugged. "I don't know. This is one of the train tunnels that were abandoned thirty years ago when the new renovations came in. It's supposed to be blocked on both ends, but I don't know."

"Okay. It'll have to do."

I laid lucario out on the concrete floor and started tending to his wounds. With swabs of cotton, I cleaned up the blood as best I could. Many of the cuts had already stopped bleeding on their own. All that was left were the few bigger cuts that still bled. With strips of cloth from a roll, I wrapped the cuts as best I could. The bruises, I sprayed with a healing potion. Trisha leaned over my shoulder to study lucario. Taking a glance at her, all I saw was curiosity in her eyes. "Will lucario be okay?"

"Yeah. He'll be fine. He just needs some rest."

I rose and sat down again with my back against the cold concrete wall. The light above me filled the room with an eerie pale blue light. Trisha sat next to me. "So what's the plan?"

"The plan as of now is to wait here until those terrorists leave. Then you need to decrypt the last of the information."

"But I can't. My computer was destroyed in the apartment building."

"Can't you use any other computer?"

She shook her head. "No. That computer in my apartment was specifically designed for encryption and decryption. No other computer will do."

"So you're saying that you can't decrypt the rest of the data?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying."

Brilliant, I thought. Now what?

10:19:57

10:19:58

10:19:59

10:20:00

Shadow warrior two glided over the city on his hydreigon scanning the ground. Accessing the com device in his ear, he contacted his companions. "This is shadow warrior two to shadow squad. Report in."

"This is shadow warrior four. No sign of primary target."

"This is shadow warrior five. No visual of the target. Over."

"Roger that. The illusion we were tracking has disappeared. Double back to the apartment building and we'll look for clues of their departure."

"Roger that. Shadow warrior four out."

"Shadow warrior five out."

All three shadow warrior flew to the apartment building located by the river. No one below gave them any the wiser.

Steven paced up and down the hall, trying to organize his thoughts from that morning. Orion and Malik meet to discuss the terrorists and they get attacked. Steven brings in a suspect for questioning about a terrorist plot that was most likely going to happen in the next twenty-four hours, and the suspect gets killed. Obviously, these terrorists had agents everywhere to take out loose ends. Every time the police were getting close to discovering something, the terrorists cleaned up the evidence. Their operation stretched to foreign shores and yet it remained a secret. How did one keep an operation that large a secret? There must be so many loose ends, how could the terrorists have kept it cleaned up for so long. And since the terrorists had removed the rest of the loose ends, what would they attempt to remove the suspect the police had in their brig?

Steven stopped pacing when his ears caught the sound of the police chief approaching him. He held a folder under his arm and a smile on his face. For someone whose face had just been drenched in the blood of the last would-be suspect, he looked to be in a very good mood. "Good news Steven. The immunity agreement has been filled out by each of the regional governments. I have a copy right here, so you can interrogate as soon as you can."

"I can?"

"Yeah. After what you've done so far to help us. I believe you're due the privilege."

"Then yeah. I'll interrogate him."

"Great. Here's the immunity agreement. Have the suspect sign it, and then you can pick up the beans he spills."

Steven nodded, grinned, and walked briskly to the interrogation room. Walking through the outer observation room, he arrived in the small square room where the suspect was sitting in a metal chair behind a table. Steven through down the immunity agreement on the table and pulled a pen from his coat. "Good news. Your immunity agreement has been signed by each of the regional governments. You are now a crime-free man. Just sign your name at the bottom of the form."

The sea captain continued to stare at the table, as if he hadn't heard what Steven had just said. Steven walked around the table to the side of the sea captain. "Excuse me, Mr. Jenkins. This is the immunity agreement. Just sign your name and answer my questions. We'll be done soon."

Mr. Jenkins didn't respond. It looked to Steven like he could have been sleeping. With a smirk, he walked over to the other side of the sea captain. "Wake up Mr. Jenk…" Steven looked down at his foot with curiosity. A weird brown liquid covered the ground around Mr. Jenkins. Steven sniffed the air. The liquid smelled like coffee. Looking again at M. Jenkins, Steven noticed the coffee cup in his left hand. A drop of coffee exited the cup and fell to the floor to join the rest of the coffee on the floor. Steven reached down and took hold of the coffee cup to remove it from Mr. Jenkins hands. Steven's hand brushed the sea captain's hand and Steven stopped dead. No warmth. Steven let go of the coffee cup and grasped the captain's hand. It was so cold. A feeling like that of an ice pick struck Steven's heart. He grabbed the hand with his other hand and checked the pulse on the wrist with two fingers. No pulse. With renewed urgency, Steven checked Mr. Jenkins's pulse again under the chin with two fingers. Not only did Steven find no pulse, but Mr. Jenkins's face was also as cold as ice.

Steven stood up in shock. Mr. Jenkins was dead. "Hey! Someone help me in here!" From the door, two police officers rushed in. Behind them, the police chief stood in the doorway. "What's happened Steven?"

"He's dead sir!"

The police chief's face said it all. His mouth dropped in a look of shock and his eyes widened. "How?"

"I think it was the coffee he was drinking before I came in here. Someone in this building must have poisoned it. You need to put this building on total lockdown."

The police chief nodded and accessed his radio. "Attention all stations. We have a terrorist infiltrator inside this building. Until further notice, this building is under total lockdown. No one is allowed in or out."

Steven was already rushing past the police chief shouting orders over his shoulder. "Get me all video surveillance from this interrogation room and find out who did this."

The chief nodded. "We'll get on that. What are you going to do?"

"You let me know who the assassin is and I'll take him down."

"All right. We'll keep you updated on whatever info comes our way. Once we know who the assassin is, we'll let you know."

Steven rushed out, leaving the police chief in the observation room. He accessed one of the computer terminals and shoved a com device into his ear. "This is the police chief asking for camera surveillance."

An officer located at camera surveillance responded to the chief's hail. "This si camera surveillance responding to hail. What do you require sir?"

"I need all surveillance of interrogation room five from now back to 0700 hours. Display it all on my screen."

"Yes sir. Pulling the tapes and sending them to you." A minute passed before a file appeared on the computer screen in front of the police chief. The chief opened it, revealing a black and white video of the interrogation room. Numbers at the bottom labeled the video as a recording from this morning at 0700. The police chief pressed the fast forward button and the screen moved quickly. Nothing changed for the first two hours. Then, at 0955 hours, a single man dressed in a police uniform entered the room. The police chief slowed the video to normal speed and watched the scene unfold before him. The police officer placed a cup of coffee on the metal table in front of the prisoner. Mr. Jenkins looked up and made eye contact with the officer, nodded, and took the cup of coffee. Only after the police officer left did Mr. Jenkins take a drink of the coffee. Minutes passed until, at exactly 0957, the prisoner started convulsing in his chair. In his death throes, the prisoner coughed up saliva and blood until finally slumping over. Time of death was exactly thirty seconds after the first drink.

The police chief turned to the two other police officers who were currently carrying the corpse of Mr. Jenkins out of the interrogation room. "Who was on duty in here at 0957 hours?"

The officers looked at each other before one of them answered. "No one chief. We were all on call after the shooting out front."

The police chief nodded and dismissed them. He turned back to the screen with the frozen image of the dead Mr. Jenkins on it. "So," the police chief thought out loud to himself. "The assassin waited until everyone was distracted with something to kill the suspect." An idea came to mind and the police chief got on the intercom to video surveillance. After the officer at video surveillance responded, he ordered, "Send me video surveillance from the hallway outside of interrogation room five from 0930 to 1000."

After another minute, another file appeared on the computer screen. Opening it, the police chief looked at another black and white video recording, this one of the hallway. Playing at normal speed, the police chief didn't have long to wait to see some action. With no sound, it was hard to tell what was happening. The door to interrogation room five opened and the two officers on duty rushed out. A couple of minutes later, a single police officer walked down the hall to the interrogation room with a cup of coffee in his hand. The police chief froze the video and leaned in close to study the face. A look of shock decorated his face. For safe measure, he cut out the image of the face and ran it through a program that cleaned up really blurry pictures. The resulting image caused the police chief to adopt an even more devastated look. With a heavy heart, he accessed the com unit in his ear and contacted Steven.

Steven picked up the call. "Did you find who the assassin was?"

"Yes I did. You won't believe this Steven."

"Who was it?"

"It was Sven."

Silence floated across the invisible line of communication. Then Steven asked, "Are you certain?"

"Absolutely. I ran the picture through a cleaning program to be certain. It's Sven."

Steven was silent for a little longer. "Okay. Where can I find him?"

"Hold on one minute." The police chief worked fervently on the computer to access personal schedules. With his higher security clearance, he accessed Sven's personal file. "He's currently listed as working in guard duty at Skyarrow Bridge. He must have left with the squad at 1000 hours."

"All right. I'm on my way."

"I'm contacting a squad car to take you there."

"Good. And contact the officers at Skyarrow Bridge and let them know the situation. We must take Sven unharmed."

"Already working on it. It is likely that Sven won't even be there."

"I'm still going to hunt him down. If he's a terrorist sleeper agent, he's our only lead."

"Roger that."

10:44:57

10:44:58

10:44:59

10:45:00

Shadow squad arrived at the same time at the apartment complex aside the river. Multiple people crowded around the place, and the fire department was just showing up. Multiple water and fighting pokemon swarmed the complex in their search for survivors. Shadow squad circled overhead like Mandibuzzes. Shadow warrior scanned the surface from his great height with a special scanning device. After a while, he spoke to his two companions. "The scanning device is picking up something on the ground. It could be blood of a pokemon, but we need to get closer. Shadow warrior five, move in."

"Roger that. Shadow warrior five moving in." Shadow warrior five on his hydreigon flew off a distance and disappeared behind a building. Walking on the sidewalk like an everyday citizen, he blended in well. Under the observation of the other two shadow warriors, shadow warrior five joined the bustling crowd in fake curiosity of what had happened. Pretending to drop his phone onto the ground, shadow warrior five dropped down into the crowds with a scanning device and studied the tiny pool of blood on the pavement. After taking a quick sample, he rose and left the crowd. He disappeared behind another building. Moments later his hydreigon carried him up into the sky to join his fellow comrades.

"Shadow warrior five, what's your report?"

"The scanner picks up traces of pokemon cells. Give the scanner some time to figure out which kind."

The scanner worked fast, examining the blood cells from the sample and cross referencing them with known pokemon. The results came back in a minute. "It's blood from a lucario."

"So we must have injured it. That can't be the only droppings of blood. Let's get on the ground and find the trail." All three shadow warriors flew behind a building, dismounted from their dragons, withdrew them, and walked out like normal citizens onto the city streets. Shadow warrior five held the scanner device and looked for the trail of blood. The second drop of blood was found in the middle of the street, about a hundred yards from the first drops of blood.

"Shadow warrior four, what do you gather from this?"

"The blood is about a hundred yards from the first. So this lucario isn't bleeding heavily. Probably just damaged. We might lose the trail soon. Lucarios and similar pokemon are known for healing quite rapidly."

"That doesn't mean that the lucario isn't seriously hurt. It could still be seriously injured on the inside, where we can't see." Shadow warrior two replied. "Shadow warrior five, can you track the trail of blood?"

"Yes sir." The three individuals started moving, following the trail of blood.

The calm blue light gave the underground tunnel a calming sense. Lucario lay prone on his back on the cold concrete. I sat next to him, studying his condition with Aura. The wounds were healing nicely and the cuts had almost completely sealed up. Lucario should be waking up in about thirty minutes. That was good. Lucario took a nasty hit from those terrorists. A pokemon center would usually provide the best medication, but it was too risky.

Trisha whispered beside me, "I've never seen a lucario before."

I smiled. "You and just about ninety percent of Unova. Unova is so foreign, not like Sinnoh. In Sinnoh, we are so connected with other regions; we have pokemon from as far away as Hoenn. But Unova is so far away, that pokemon familiar to me are so rare."

"Yeah. Isolation really defines Unova. We're so different, we've sort of advanced in our own special way." Her eyes widened at what she said. "Not to say that I think Unova is better than Sinnoh. I'm sure Sinnoh is absolutely fantastic."

"It is. Wide open spaces, a beautiful mountain range." I sighed, reminiscing about the past. "I can't wait until I return."

"It must be really beautiful."

"Depends on your definition of beautiful. But it's home to me. I can't see myself settling down in any other region."

Trisha started to stare back at the concrete. "Sometimes, I wish to return to Johto."

"And what does Orion feel about that?"

"I don't know. We really haven't talked about that kind of future. When all my studies here in Unova are done, I want to return to Johto. But I don't know about Orion. I mean, Sinnoh's his home like you. But beyond that, I think he really likes Unova."

"Do you not like Unova?"

"It's great, but it's…different. Your right. Johto is my home and I'd rather live there."

"Well, I have good news for you. Orion is a traveling trainer. He has to settle down somewhere sometime. And if he goes after you like it looks likes, then I bet you he'll choose to live in Johto with you."

Her eyes suddenly brightened up. "You really think so?"

"Yes, he wi…" I cut off the last word as my Aura picked up something.

Trisha looked in curiosity. "What is it?"

I shushed her. "Ssh. There's someone here in the sewers with us."

Trisha's eyes wandered around in their sockets as she quietly studied the surrounding walls and ceiling. "Who is it?"

"I don't know."

"How do you even know someone's in here?"

"I'm…I'm an aura guardian. One of the few."

Now Trisha's eyes widened to the size of bowls. "And what are you doing right now?"

"I'm tracking those strange people with Aura. They're in the sewers, but I don't know if they've found us."

"What should we do?"

I sent invisible tendrils of Aura searching down both directions of the railway. Despite Trisha saying both ends were blocked, one wasn't. "We're getting out of here. Down that way." Trisha stood up quickly and withdrew the light from the wall. I picked up lucario and followed Trisha as she led the way down the dark corridor. I could hear our footsteps making echoes that bounced off the walls. If the terrorists had some sensory device for picking up sounds, they would definitely find us. But I didn't have time to change our situation. We proceeded down the corridor alongside the abandoned train tracks as fast as we could. But Aura told me that the terrorists were tracking the sound of our running. They were coming close. One versus three wouldn't be a fare fight, but the terrorists wouldn't care. They would catch up and crush us.

10:54:57

10:54:58

10:54:59

10:55:00

Steven sat impatiently in the squad car, waiting to arrive at Skyarrow Bridge. The empty streets of the city provided for faster travel through the streets. Soon, the massive spires of the bridge towered over them. Here, the massive traffic forced them to stop several blocks short of the bridge. Steven immediately exited the vehicle and charged to the bridge. Anyone who stood in the way was rudely shoved. At the top of his lungs, Steven shouted to the crowds of pedestrians, "Out of the way! I work with the Castelia police force! Clear the way! Move!" People wisely stepped out of the way when he charged through.

Upon reaching the bridge, he found it had a central walkway which was raised above the lanes of the highway which ran across the bridge. A police officer met him at the entrance to the bridge. "Steven. We have received the urgent communication from the police chief and have quarantined the area. However, we've looked and it would appear that officer Sven is missing."

Steven silently swore. "Where was he last seen?"

"He was last seen working patrol on the far side of the bridge."

"Exactly where he would want to be for a quick getaway. He wants to be out of the city so that he can escape." With that, Steven started running and pushing his way on the walkway to the far end of the bridge. The entire bridge stretched across the river, meaning he had a long while to run. People made way for him to proceed. After a long run, Steven finally arrived on the far side of the bridge. The traffic started to clear up as the two lanes of the bridge turned into three lanes. The crowds of pedestrians also started to thin out, as the walkway gave way to fully paved streets built specifically for their use.

Steven looked around, trying to find Sven or any police officer. None could be found. For the second time that morning, Steven felt the deep-hurting feeling of failure. If he could, he would rip the land apart in frustration, anger, and despair looking for Sven. But he couldn't, and Sven was long gone by now. Turning, Steven slowly walked back to Castelia City. The primary suspect was dead, the infiltrator inside the Castelia police force was gone, and they were no closer to stopping the terrorists than they were six months ago.

10:59:57

10:59:58

10:59:59

11:00:00


	8. Chapter 8

The following takes place between 11 A.M. and 12 P.M.

Shadow warrior two stepped over a pile of refuse. The pad computer in his hand emanated a soft beeping. The beeping intensified and shadow warrior two stopped dead. A simple smirk started to stretch across his face. "I have them. They're several hundred feet ahead of us in a different tunnel."

"What are they doing?" asked shadow warrior four.

"They must have noticed us. The echoes and sound waves indicate that they are running away from us."

"Which way?"

"This way." Shadow warrior two carved the way through the tunnels with his two companions in tow.

At the end of the tunnel, we found light and the track stretching out to the East, where it connected with another, newer track. Where we stood at that moment was fenced in. Sitting atop the tunnel, multiple steel warehouses dominated the land. Turning to Trisha, I asked, "Do you know where we are?"

"I think those warehouses are the ones located behind the shopping mall."

The shopping mall. That was perfect. "All right. We're going to hide in those warehouses."

"And do what?"

"First, I'm going to make a fake trail to lead the terrorists away. Next, I'm going to rob that shopping mall and change clothes. I look too conspicuous in these clothes." Trisha nodded at that. From my pack, I removed a thick tube with a long syringe. With the needle, I stabbed one of lucario's arteries and withdrew about half a tube full of blood.

Trisha looked on in shock. "What are you doing?"

"Those people must have tracked us by lucario's spilt blood. So I'm going to use the same blood to make the fake trail." Next, I removed a box shaped item from my pack and handed it to Trisha. "Take this. Get into the safest warehouse and open the item in one of the far corners, and then wait for my return. Also, here." I handed her lucario. She slightly stumbled back from the massive weight. "Take lucario to the warehouses and make sure he stays there. I won't be long.

Trisha slowly nodded and started making her way to the warehouses. With the syringe, I squirted a drop of lucario's blood onto the dirt surface. I knew that it must look like lucario's wounds had reopened, since undoubtedly, the terrorists would find in the train tunnel that they had been bound. So I was careful to conserve the blood and move long distances between drops to make it look more convincing. This I did while running, to make it more believable. By the time I was out of lucario's blood, I had established great distance between myself and tunnel exit.

After stowing the syringe inside my robes, I located a hill nearby and jumped. With the power of Aura, I carried myself through the air the fifty or so feet to the hill. I let myself drop and my feet lightly touched the hill. From there, I ran the next several feet so that the dirt and grass hid me from the decoy path. I removed a square structure from my robes, similar to the one I gave Trisha, and started to unfold it on the ground. The insides were a bright mirror, which reflected the morning light quite brightly. I could study my features easily in the mirror. Once entirely unfolded, it formed a flat mirror on the ground about a foot wide and a foot high, There, I waited. Bird pokemon flew above my head and some bugs wandered the tall grass. Still I waited. Minutes ticked by while I waited.

In the sanctity of my mind, my thoughts wandered to meditate on these three terrorists that hunted me down. They must have been an elite squad of trainers that the terrorists used for special assignments, like kidnapping Orion. They had never appeared before in any other terrorist attacks and their training appeared much more advanced than that of any other terrorists. And now they were turning that advanced training against me.

As I thought about the terrorists that currently pursued, they arrived on the scene. The three coated individuals rode their haxoruses. They rode past the site of the last dropped blood, looking for the next drop. Within a minute, they realized that no more blood added to the trail. One of the terrorists threw a pokeball. The white energy that emerged transformed into a large dog-like pokemon. The terrorist shouted instructions to the massive pokemon. "Stoutland, use odor sleuth and find the targets." The dog-like pokemon, stoutland, started rushing around the area with its nose to the ground, looking for the telltale scents that were a trail in their own right. Soon, the pokemon faced my direction and growled deeply. The three terrorists on their mounts started running to me.

I swore under my breath and stood in full view of the terrorists. Reaching my left arm, I quickly activated the device that allowed me to go to the reverse world. Energy surged through my arm and out to hit the mirror. Within a seconds, a wild hurricane-look-alike portal formed. I looked up one last time to see the three terrorists and their pokemon standing on top of the hill looking at me in apparent shock. I nodded at them and jumped into the portal.

Shadow squad continued to stare in shock at what just happened before them. After the assassin jumped through the portal, the opening closed, leaving behind nothing but a square mirror on the ground. Stoutland jumped forward in curiosity and sniffed around the mirror, but even its keen nose couldn't find the assassin. Shadow warrior four guided his haxorus alongside shadow warrior two's. "What do we do now?"

Shadow warrior two took his time before answering. "We fall back. We've dwelled in this city too long. If we stay longer, we may gain unwanted attention. Smash the mirror for safe measure and let's move."

Shadow warrior four nodded and guided his haxorus to the mirror. With a single step of its clawed foot, the haxorus smashed the mirror into thousands of pieces. After returning their four pokemon and summoning their hydreigons, the three shadow warriors flew off over the city and to the horizon.

11:12:57

11:12:58

11:12:59

11:13:00

The rushing water of the Western River flowed by, now energized with the new addition of liquid from the recent rain. Rain still fell, punching the surface of the water and creating millions of ripples. The girl on the water side watched the water of the river with concern. If the water got out of control, it could lead to a very short journey. Still, she knew she had to attempt the travel. So with both hands, she pulled on a thick rope visible in the brush. Slowly, a simple rowboat emerged from the brush and slid down the hill. Before slipping into the river, the girl jumped into the boat. In the bottom of the boat, two oars allowed her to control her path and direction. She positioned the oars and started to heave against the strength of the water. With the prow of the craft pointed south and with her head facing the north, she started to maneuver the oars in a steady rowing pattern, thus driving the boat forward across the water. To the north, Tubeline Bridge faded into the horizon. On either side of the massive river, plants, trees, bushes, along with the thousands of pokemon that dwelled in them, dotted the landscape. Normally, the surrounding land would have looked absolutely gorgeous, but the rain gave the surrounding a dismal look.

The girl continued to row, but progress remained slow. Plus, the falling rain started to create puddles in the bottom of the boat, which meant that the girl had to stop rowing and use a tiny pail to scoop the water out of the boat. At this rate, the girl estimated that she would arrive at her destination in two hours as long as the river current continued to run strongly.

Her progress was un-expectantly stopped when three basculins jumped out of the water at her. The water type fish pokemon bared their multiple teeth at her and started to growl menacingly. The girl screamed and raised an oar to defend herself. The oar struck one of the basculins on the nose. The fish fell back into the river with a growl. The other two fish flew past the girl's head, snapping and growling while they did. The girl dropped the oars onto the boat and reached for a pokeball. She threw it, and white energy emerged. The energy landed on the boat and turned into an eelektross. The girl shouted, "Eelektross use thunderbolt!"

The eel-like eelektross jumped into the air where it had a full view of the three basculins. Electricity crackled on its neck from multiple yellow spots. The charge traveled down into the pokemon's clawed flippers. With these clawed flippers, the pokemon directed the electricity in two massive bolts down at the water where the basculins waited. The thunderbolt struck the water, where it scattered through the water. Not only did the three basculins take the hard hits, every water type pokemon in the area was zapped by the electric shock.

As eelektross fell back down to the boat, its trainer watched all of the water type pokemon fall down to the riverbed neutralized. She frowned from discomfort of having to neutralize so many innocent pokemon. But for the sake of self-defense, she could compromise. So with a self-affirmation of a job well done, she withdrew eelektross and continued to row. The rain started to lessen and only came down in scattered sprinkles. The ride, with the power of the oars and the river current, meant that progress was made at a nice pace. From out behind the clouds above, the sun peeked its face and started to shine on the world below. Water sparkled, and the river looked like a surface made up of billions of sparkling diamonds. Each side of the river displayed a beautiful display of green trees, shrubbery, and flowers. The girl sighed, relaxed in her rowing, and took in the beauty of the surrounding scenery.

A shadow in the water caught her eye. She stopped rowing and looked at the water. The shadow looked like a stretched oval, with multiple fins. Interesting, thought the girl. Maybe it was a pokemon just wandering upstream. The shadow continued upstream at a slow pace. Whatever it was, it must have been a large pokemon. As tempting as it was to attack and possibly capture it, the girl decided that she was in too much of a rush for that. A large cloud in the sky blocked the sun and the whole scene of the river changed from bright and beautiful to dark and dismal. Whatever the pokemon was, its shadow disappeared in the darkened light. The girl looked at the water a little while longer, decided that it was time to re-continue her journey, took up the oars, and began to row.

11:20:57

11:20:58

11:20:59

11:21:00

Trisha sat silently in one of the corners of the warehouse. What an odd day it had been. Orion was missing, there was an attack in Castelia City, and an assassin appears at her doorstep saying that he's a friend of Orion's. Suddenly, they're attacked by terrorists who have destroyed her apartment, and she realizes that her assassin friend has a super rare lucario in his possession. That same lucario was injured in the attack and they have to hide in the train tunnels by route of the sewers. In there, she learns that the assassin is in fact one of the few aura guardians left in the world. The terrorists track them and now they're separated. The assassin gives her a strange box-shaped contraption to open up in the warehouse when she found a hiding place, and entrusted her with protecting the unconscious lucario. So there she sat in the corner of the warehouse, with the unconscious lucario in front of her, the odd contraption opened up next to her, and billions of questions filling her mind.

Question one: why did Malik ask her to open up a mirror on the ground. It made no sense to her. Question two: why exactly were those terrorists hunting them. If she was really that important, wouldn't they have kidnapped her six months ago when this whole mess started? Question four: what kind of information had she decrypted on that hard drive Malik had given her? Nothing was making sense anymore. Six months ago, people started attacking cities for no good reason. Now the whole world had been turned upside down. What the #!*% was going on?

After question five faded from her mind, the scene was ripped apart by a bright shining light from the mirror next to her. Something looking like a hurricane or tornado swirled up out of the mirror. Colors of black, deep purple and maroon red swirled around in the midst of the hurricane and lighting crackled around the edges. Trisha screamed in shock and jumped away. The hurricane remained where it was and never grew in size. Trisha however, decided for safe measure to drag lucario away from the hurricane and then hide behind some crates.

From the middle of the hurricane, a figure jumped out of the hurricane and landed on the ground next to the mirror. A second later, the hurricane collapsed, leaving behind the mirror on the ground. The figure remained kneeled on the ground and its head moved around, studying the surroundings. Assured that he was safe, he turned and collapsed the mirror back into the square box. Then he stood up and looked around and with a whisper, spoke: "Trisha. Where are you?"

Trisha stood up and stepped out from behind the crates she was hiding behind. "I'm….I'm right here."

The cloaked figure turned to face her. "Ah. Good. And how's lucario?"

Trembling, Trisha pointed to behind the crates. The cloaked figure walked past her and studied the unconscious lucario lying on the ground. "Good. It appears that he's about to wake up soon."

Trisha still trembled from shock. "Um. Are you Malik."

I turned to face her. "Of course I'm Malik. How many other strange cloaked men do you know?"

She looked over at where the hurricane had appeared suddenly. "What…what was that?"

"That was a portal from the reverse world. I can only exit the world through portals located on mirrors. That's why I told you to set up the mirror when you found a hiding place."

Trisha sat down on the cold floor with a moan of uncertainty. "The reverse world?"

"Yeah. It's a world that's the reverse of this one. The phenomenon was first discovered in the Sinnoh Region, though I suspect that some civilization in the distant past have known about it for centuries." I rolled up the cloak of my left arm and revealed to her the device. The biggest part was a circular disk of an unknown metal alloy held to my bicep with bands of metal. A smaller disk of the same metal alloy was attached to the palm of my glove. Multiple wires wound about my arm, connecting the two disks. "I found this during my journeys. It was created in a past time by scientists of a long gone civilization. It allows someone to travel to and from the reverse world at will so long as they have mirrors. It's helped me so far and has proved quite useful in getting out of hot spots."

Trisha clasped her head with her hands. "Assassins, terrorists, aura guardians, the reverse world. What's happening?"

I kneeled down next to her. "What's happening is something beyond your control. We need to keep moving. As soon as lucario wakes up, we'll start moving."

We didn't have long to wait. After several minutes, lucario's eyes opened slowly. Thankfully, I was there to calm him when he jumped up with an aura sphere held between his paws. "Whoa lucario. Down boy." Lucario remained fixated, looking for any enemy in the area. Once satisfied that it was safe, he collapsed the aura sphere and relaxed his body. The relaxation never fooled me, since years of experience told me that he was ready to fight within a second. Trisha walked up next to me. A spark came to mind and I realized, "Ah, we haven't done any formal introductions. Trisha, this is lucario. Lucario, this is Trisha."

Lucario held out his right paw in a customary human handshake. Trisha took it and shook it gingerly. I smiled. "Now that we've been formally introduced, it's time to move into the next phase of the plan." So I explained to lucario what I had briefly told Trisha. From our position in the warehouse, we moved closer to the massive shopping mall. The building covered several acres, and the parking lot covered several other acres. We found an entrance to what appeared to be a storm shelter. I broke the lock and opened one of the two massive metal doors. With light from the flashlight I withdrew my robes; we walked down the stairs into the cellar. Upon arrival, we found that the storm cellar connected with the basement of the shopping mall. Concrete pillars several feet thick held up the ceiling. Cardboard boxes filled with a wide assortment of items for restocking the stores in the shopping mall. Off to one section of the basement, we found the cardboard boxes that held men's clothing.

There, I started to rummage through the boxes, looking for men's clothes in my size. Once I found a set of clothes in my size, I walked a distance away where I could change. The black robes went off and I pulled on the blue jeans of an average person traveling in the world. Over my torso, I pulled a long sleeve black sweater, over which went a blue coat to effectively cover the reverse world device on my left arm. The boots on my feet were replaced with socks and average tennis shoes. A messenger bag held all of my equipment in easy-to-grab pockets. To replace the hood, I put on a Sinnoh-style beret. I made a small cut in the lining of the coat and created a new "pocket", where I stowed the hard drive for safe keeping. The only thing that remained from my original outfit was the gloves, which I had to keep since one held the small metallic desk necessary for creating portals.

After changing clothes, I walked back to where Trisha and lucario were waiting. In one arm, I held my old clothes, which I threw at lucario. "Put on what you can. They'll help you hide better in the shadows. Lucario went about the business of sorting through the robes to find the ones that would fit him. He disregarded the boots, preferring to feel the ground under his paws. He took the black mantle and donned that, careful not to cut it too much with his spikes. Next, he donned the over robe, which allowed him to pull the hood over his ears. Now lucario started to blend in with the shadows in the basement. I picked up the rest of the clothes and stored them in a cardboard box, which I carried as far as the underground entrance to the basement, where I placed them.

We exited into the sunlit outside world. Trisha was first to speak. "What do we do now?"

"Well, I'm going to find a restaurant in town that will allow me to look at the information you've decrypted so far. Maybe there's something to be found in the fifty percent you decrypted." In my mind, I contacted lucario. "Keep close watch. Hide in the shadows. Don't let anyone see you."

Lucario nodded and started to run off where he could hide and follow. Trisha looked curiously after him. "Why don't you just put him into his pokeball?"

I thought a bit about how I would word my answer. "He doesn't have a pokeball."

"Oh. So he's one of those pokemon that doesn't like being in a pokeball?"

"No. I mean, I haven't caught him. He's still wild and has yet to be caught by anyone."

Trisha gave me a look of shock. "But I thought you were his trainer. That means you've caught him, right?"

"No. It may surprise you, but there was a day when pokeballs didn't exist, but pokemon and humans still bonded in amazing ways. That's what I and lucario have. He can still be caught and I hope for his sake that he never is captured. He's my friend and I'm his. We stick together and have stuck together for more than a decade. I'm his trainer in the sense that I've taught him many things about fighting, Aura, and other things. But I've never captured him the conventional way."

Wonderment filled Trisha's eyes as we walked into Nimbasa City. "Wow. I never realized just how close the bond can be between people and pokemon. That's amazing."

I nodded in agreement and we continued walking. Side by side, it might have looked like we were some couple walking into the entertainment center of Nimbasa City. The highway we walked alongside of passed multiple stadiums that towered like skyscrapers over our heads. Many of them were inactive, but one with flashing lights and huge TV screens caught my eye. "What's going on there?"

Trisha looked at the stadium. "Oh. That's the football stadium. The game's this evening. It's between the Oppelucid City Dragons and the Driftveil City Bulldozers. Both teams and cities are big rivals in the area of football, you wouldn't believe it. It seems like almost every year, they're meeting together in this very stadium. They're pretty much evenly matched, although hopes are high for the Driftveil Bulldozers this year. They've been looking very good."

"You much of a sports fan?"

She shrugged. "Not really. I keep to my studies mostly. But I still remain on top of the latest news. Are there any sports played in the Sinnoh Region?"

"A few. We have the pokeathelon and the Backer World Cup. I'm not much into sports."

"Yeah. I'm surprised that the game is still on for this evening. I mean, if they will cancel the Unova League for this year because of the terrorist attacks, I don't know why they won't cancel this game."

"Maybe it's for a morale booster. The problem with that is that the terrorists could use it as a morale destroyer."

"Why do you think that?"

"Because if I was a terrorist, that's what I would do. I would want to strike somewhere so public and so symbolic that it would completely crush the morale of everyone. From that moment onward, they would learn to fear and be subservient. Fear is a powerful weapon. It's not about how many people get hurt. It's all about the effect of the attack and how people respond. For instance, the attack this morning in Castelia City only hurt a few people according to the news, but the effect of the attack has everyone scared. So that's what I would do. It wouldn't matter if I hurt a few people or a lot of people. As long as I show that I can strike them whenever, wherever, and that they can't stop me, I prove to them their own primitiveness and vulnerability. That's the primary goal of a terrorist. Every attack has to be an exhibition; a show to prove to the world that their defenses don't matter. I don't have to be the most well known, the richest, or the most powerful man in the world. If I can prove that I can throw their orderly lives into chaos, then I am leader. It's all a psychological war. Whoever wins the hearts and minds of the people wins the war."

"But we're not subservient to them."

"Doesn't matter. So long as I can scare you into acting differently than you normally would, I win. I gain control of your mind. And the more the police or the regional government fails to stop me; they lose control of your mind. Everyone's a player. Once I have enough people scared into acting differently, that is when change starts to take place. Today's regional governments move at the whims of the populace. So I control the populace, I control the governments."

"So, the terrorists will attack something that's symbolic. But, they didn't this morning in Oppelucid City when they blew up that bus."

"Actually, that was probably the most symbolic attack that has ever taken place in the Unova Region. Oppelucid City prides itself with being the most secure city in the world. For the past six months, its advanced security systems have kept people feeling quite secure. Then the bus bombing plus the three bombings at the train station proved to the world that not even the advanced security systems of Oppelucid City can stop them. It was a very symbolic victory."

"Ah." Trisha now understood. "You seem to know a lot about terrorists."

"I try to think like my enemy. That way, I can tell what they'll do and I can predict their movements."

"Do you do that in pokemon battles?"

"Always. I not only study type effectiveness, but how my opponent will move. Eventually, I can get around their defenses and crush them."

"Cool." And we kept walking. By now, the football stadium was far behind us. Trisha started to point down the street a ways. "There's a restaurant that serves coffee and has free Wi-Fi. We can go there."

"Good. Maybe Orion gave us some important information." We walked the more than three hundred feet to a coffee restaurant called Sawsbucks. Upon entering with the announcement made by a tiny bell above the door, I moved immediately to a table and set up a computer that I pulled from my messenger bag. Trisha walked over to the counter and ordered two cappuccinos. While she did this, I turned on my personal laptop and plugged in the portable hard drive. The computer read the files and displayed the data on the screen.

Trisha arrived after a couple minutes with the cappuccinos. "Have you found anything yet?"

"I only just started reading the data." I took a sip of the cappuccino while I read the decrypted data. "It looks like most of the information you decrypted is just an in depth history of the terrorist attacks from the past six months. Orion has supplied more information about each attack that isn't available to the public." A file caught my eye and I opened it. "That's funny."

Trisha looked up from her cappuccino. "What is it?"

"Orion has included a timeline in one of the files."

"What kind of timeline?"

"It's a timeline of the terrorist attacks. But the funny part is that the timeline goes back ten months."

"But the terrorist attacks started six months ago, right?"

"That's what everyone is saying. But apparently, Orion thinks that the attacks started ten months ago. The first attack on the timeline took place last year." I clicked on the point on the timeline, thus opening another file. "Orion thinks that the first terrorist attack was a casual event. He's included two articles here. The headline on the first says, 'World famous scientist wins Omega prize for physics'. The article contains information about a Professor Zenger. Apparently, he's some really smart scientist in physics and other sciences."

"What about the second article?"

"The headline says, 'World famous scientist, Professor Zenger, goes traveling to distant region'. This doesn't make sense. The article talks about how Professor Zenger is traveling to a distant region to study with other scientists. Why would Orion include both articles? What does this have to do with terrorists?"

"Maybe Professor Zenger is a terrorist who's working with the others."

"Maybe. I can't find any other information about him. Apparently, he's in that distant region and studying sciences with other scientists. I really want Orion right here to help me sort this out."

"Yeah. Is there anything else on the timeline?"

"Tons of stuff. The next file is about a car crash. The car crash involved a single death. Someone named John Berkley, who died in a car crash when a sudden loss of steering caused his car to careen off the side of cliff less than a mile north of Driftveil City."

"Who was John Berkley?"

"A nobody. Average Unova citizen. No criminal record except for a few speeding and parking tickets. He was in between jobs at the time and had no income. No wife, children, or any other near relatives. Nothing to suppose that he was a terrorist or someone connected."

Trisha mused over that. "I've never known Orion to get details wrong. He's not one to chase shadows."

"I know. That's why none of this makes any sense. I was expecting relevant data, none of this. Everything else on the timeline between ten months ago and six months ago are just articles about random people. No connections to terrorists."

"Maybe Orion's trying to tell you something. Maybe those random people aren't just random people."

"Like I said, I wish Orion was here to help me. He has all of the pieces."

I and Trisha continued to drink our cappuccinos. Then Trisha spoke up saying, "Is there anything else besides the timeline and the random people?"

"Nothing but in depth info on the attacks. Of course, that's just fifty percent of the hard drive. The other half could have more information that might be crucial."

Trisha took another sip of her cappuccino and then started to think. "Malik. Do you remember when I told you that my brother Yusuf was planning on entering the Unova League and then dropped out before going missing?"

"Yeah. Do you think it's connected?"

"No. It's just…" She sighed. "I might know where he is."

"Oh. Well, that's good. But how does that help?"

"I gave him a computer several years ago as a birthday gift. It's the only computer in the Unova Region that is specifically programmed for decrypting data. If we went to him and if he had the computer I gave him, I can decrypt the rest of the data."

"That's one too many ifs. But we have no other option. We'll leave in a little bit…" My voice trailed off as my eyes scanned one of the files.

Trisha noticed. "What is it now?"

"They're escalating." I clicked on multiple files and studied the attacks from previously unseen attacks whilst Trisha watched on. "Do you remember what I told you about how terrorists want to attack significant targets that crush the morale of the people?"

"Yeah."

"That's not what they're doing. The first official attacks six months ago were just random attacks and killings against people. From there, they slowly escalated to attacking bigger targets, then to international attacks, and finally to destroying whole buildings in Castelia City. They don't start out with attacking significant targets. It's as though they were trying to stay covert and decided they couldn't, so they escalated."

"Why is that important?"

"Because that's not the profile of a terrorist. Terrorists attack significant targets that have some value to the populace. These started with just killing people and then started escalating. They grew bolder over time. That's the profile of a serial killer. When was the attack on Tubeline Bridge?"

Trisha had to think a while about that. "Wasn't that about four or five months ago?"

"Yeah. From that moment forward in the timeline, that's when these people adopt the profile of terrorists. They changed from the profile of a serial killer to the profile of a terrorist."

Trisha was getting slightly excited. "What does that say?"

"It says that there must have been a purpose to killing all of those people in those first two months of attacks." I thought a while about it. Minutes past like hours. I could hear the slurping as Trisha finished her cappuccino. I looked at the entire mystery as a mathematical equation that contained one unknown variable. All I needed was to find that unknown variable to solve the equation. Suddenly, an idea – a crazy, mad, and impossible idea – came to mind. I started to cross reference the deaths from the first two months of attacks with other databases I had in the computer. In those two months, one hundred and thirty-four people lost their lives. When the computer came back with the results of the cross referencing, I sat back into my chair with shock. A cold feeling of dread entered my heart like a freezing wet blanket. Trisha eyed me with concern, so I decided to answer her unasked question. "I conducted a cross reference of the deaths from the first two months of attacks against people with information in databases on this computer. You may not be aware of his, but in those first two months, attacks took place in other regions as well. In fact, every region has had at least three attacks take place within its borders. When I cross referenced the names of the victims with those in my databases, they all came back positive."

"For…what?"

"One hundred and thirty-four people died. All one hundred and thirty-four of those people were former assassins."

Trisha gasped. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Some of them were from before my time, since when I entered the order, there were less than a hundred left. But yes, all of them were assassins."

"But why would anyone want to kill former assassins?"

"Think about it. Just because some exit the order doesn't mean that they aren't a threat to crime anymore. Many when they left went on to become top trainers and fighters. But there is one thing every former assassin has in common: a sense of duty to the exercise of justice and defense of the defenseless."

"Ah. So that's why when the order disbanded, you continued to fight crime in Sinnoh."

"Exactly. Think about it: if the terrorists started attacking and those one hundred thirty-four assassins could have banded together as easily as a high school reunion and fought the terrorists. Whoever the leader of the terrorists is, they obviously knew of the order of assassins and operated to remove them. Once the assassins were out of the picture, the major obstacle to terrorist attacks would be out of the picture." I furled my brow as another thought came to mind. "That means whoever's calling the shots knew the assassins. And I mean, he or she must have really _known _them enough to hunt them down even after they were under deep cover or have taken on new lifestyles."

"Could it have been another assassin?"

"Couldn't be. Every assassin both active and inactive I know is either dead from age or attacks. It had to be someone outside of the order who knew everyone within the order."

"So who could it have been?"

"I have no idea." I ran through my mind everyone who could have had that many connections with the order. After a while, I shook my head, and decided for a different plan. "I have one idea. Maybe Orion knew that the first attacks were connected with the assassins. Maybe there was more than one reason for him calling me. So we need to get the rest of the information decrypted. You say your brother Yusuf has the only other computer around that can decrypt the rest of the data?"

"Yeah."

"Then that's where we're going." I started to pack up the computer, stow the hard drive in my coat, and store the laptop in my messenger bag. "You need to take me to him. Where is he?"

"He's living in a cabin along the Western River, north of Driftveil Drawbridge."

"Then let's get going." I left behind some money as a tip and we exited the restaurant. Nothing but the tinkle of the bell signaled our exit.

11:43:57

11:43:58

11:43:59

11:44:00

Steven was back at Castelia Police HQ, sitting in a chair with his head resting in his hands. For the first time that morning, the weariness he had been feeling that whole night started to pour down on him. Coffee only delayed it. Now he felt like he had been running nonstop all night. His entire body was sore, and begged for rest. Unfortunately, rest could not be supplied that particular morning. This fact was made agonizingly realistic when the police chief – who looked equally tired – walked up to Steven. He held two cups of coffee in his hands and handed one to Steven. "Here, you look like you need one."

Steven moved his head enough to look at the police chief. "That horrid stuff will only help for about ten minutes and I'll be back to where I started, except worse."

The police chief smirked. "Maybe our true. Listen, I know you're not in the mood for more bad news…"

"Then don't give it."

"…but we've swept the entire area around where Sven was last seen and we haven't found him."

Steven groaned and buried his head in his hands. "So we're stuck with nothing but what we had when we started. We're no closer to catching the terrorists than we were six months ago."

"It would appear so. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. Just tell me why we're not doing more. For instance, why are we not investigating that local mercenary group for more evidence about the terrorists?"

"You know how this goes Steven. We have to follow protocol and protocol says that we can't just go invading the property of a local business without valid proof that they're connected with terrorists."

" #!*% . To #!*% with protocol!" Steven was on his feet and ready for a fight. "They're not a local business like some supermarket! They're terrorists! We should be calling in the cavalry and tearing apart those buildings for any proof that may exist about their connections with the terrorists!"

"But you just said what the problem is. There may be evidence. There may not be any. If we go charging in and there isn't any proof to be found, it will create a much bigger issue not just for us, but for the entire region."

"You heard what I said that Matthias said. We should be doing our duty to the people of Unova and protecting them from an undercover terrorist plot."

"Right now, we don't need the people anymore dissatisfied with our work. If we start invading local businesses on the small chance that they are connected with terrorists, we'll have a political uprising on our hands."

Whatever the chief said hit Steven hard. He paused a while and blinked before answering. "What do you mean by that?"

The police chief sighed and walked a distance over to a filing cabinet. From it, he withdrew a vanilla folder from the file marked, 'Latest Unova News'. He handed the vanilla file to Steven. "Things are worse off than you think. Last month, a movement started among the populace. Apparently, people are really scared out there. It started when someone started up a website calling for a change in government to stop the terrorist attacks. The movement's gained more strength since its birth. Now with what's happened here in Castelia City, things are only going to get rough."

Steven opened the vanilla folder and started to peruse through the information. "What kind of change of government do they want?"

"Martial law."

Steven looked up from his perusing with a look of concern. "Are they serious? They think martial law will change anything?"

"In the mind of the many of the people, it will. They believe that martial law will keep the populace safe while at the same time giving the security forces of the region a better chance at catching the terrorists. Like I said, people are scared."

Steven sighed and sat back into his chair, still reading the information. "I never realized that it had come to this when the citizens would actually be supporting the idea of enforcing martial law."

"And it's not just here. Similar websites have risen in Sinnoh and Hoenn. Since the attacks there are less frequent, they have yet to gain strength. But it might not be long."

"In other words, any push in the wrong place, and this whole balloon goes pop."

"More like boom, but yeah, you've got the picture."

#!*% , Steven thought. If only they had valid evidence that the mercenaries were linked to the terrorists. If they didn't and couldn't stop the terrorists in time, it would lead to a very bumpy road to defeat.

11:50:57

11:50:58

11:50:59

11:51:00

The forested hills located to the east of Nimbasa City provided ample cover and an excellent observation post to watch the highways running through the land. A vast majority of the major cities in the region were experiencing a serious drop in population density as people chose to abandon the uncertain safety of the cities in favor of the less populated lands of the wilds. Fear in motion. It was like watching this massive machine working in perfect order. You never knew how the machine would work or what it would produce, but it still worked. News stations were reporting the first incidents with looters who saw the opportunity to gain some riches. Only more trouble for the police. With the security forces of the region stretched thin trying to stop terrorists, keep the peace, and stop other crimes as well, freedom fighters could now move about the region un-assailed. The master's brilliant plan was finally taking shape.

Shadow warrior two smiled as these thoughts rolled through his mind. It didn't matter now what or who got in the way. Too many gears were turning in this awesome mechanism. With fear driving forward the machine of destruction, the master's plan would finally be achieved. However, shadow warrior two wasn't beyond concern. Seeing the assassin earlier disappear through a portal created in a mirror was certainly disconcerting. Whoever this assassin was, he would be trouble someday. He was an obstacle, and obstacles have to be destroyed.

He turned from his observation of the highways and turned to his two comrades. "Do we have a secure connection yet?"

Shadow warrior five continued to work on his computer. Without looking up, he said, "Nearly there."

"Well hurry. We need to give our report as soon as possible. The master needs to hear this report yesterday."

"I said, I'm nearly there. I need to input just a few more security codes for a secure connection." He tapped some more on the computer. Two minutes ticked by slowly until finally, "I have it. We have a secure connection to HQ."

Finally. Shadow warrior two walked over to the computer and tapped the com device in his ear. "This is shadow squad requesting to speak with the high commander."

A voice on the other end responded, "Stand by." Another minute ticked by. "Shadow squad, you have a secure connection with the high comm…"

Another voice cut in and spoke through the communication channel. "Shadow squad, this is the high commander. What have you got for me?"

"This is shadow warrior two. I have a priority two report to give."

"Have you neutralized the assassin?"

"Negative sir. We failed in our objective."

"What happened?"

"Sir, it would appear that this is no ordinary assassin. He's different."

"How so?"

"We don't how, but he managed to create a portal in an ordinary mirror. He walked into it and disappeared. Then the portal closed and we found no evidence as to how it was created in the first place." Static floated across the communication channel. "Sir?"

"Your mission still stands. Your objective is to neutralize the assassin. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir."

"Do not report back unless you have anything else of relevance."

"Yes sir. Shadow squad out."

Without a reply, the communication channel cut off. The rest of shadow squad looked at their leader. Shadow warrior four voiced what they were each thinking. "Do you think the news of that assassin using a portal unnerved the high commander?"

Shadow warrior five: "He did seem a bit nervous."

Shadow warrior two decided to cut in before more rumors arose. "Cease that talk. The high commander isn't nervous about anything. We will continue with the mission to hunt down the assassin, wherever he is."

The others nodded. The mission would continue.

The high commander paced back and forth in his command center. An odd feeling entered his mind. Anxiety? He had never felt anxiety for years, since before he even stated this entire operation. He had nothing to be anxious about. Was he nervous as well? Impossible. This news from shadow squad wouldn't change anything. The mission would move forward.

Having mentally affirmed that, the high commander sat down in his chair and spun it around so that he could overlook the massive command center with the table map of Unova in the center. Yeah. Nothing would change at all. At this stage in the game, there was nothing any assassin or this particular assassin could do to stop the machine. Fear gripped the region. Not even the power of every pokemon in the world combined could compare to the power of fear. Fear was a weapon the high commander had learned to utilize long ago and it was fear that would fight on the front lines in this conflict.

He leaned back into the chair, confident in his success. Hunting down the assassins had its ups and downs, but in the end, each one was hunted down and annihilated. But this one… The high commander grinned. This one was special. This one had a part in his plans to change the world. He needed to live so that he could take part in his plans. Every other assassin was unimportant, but this one stood out. He and his lucario would serve an important purpose in the future.

11:59:57

11:59:58

11:59:59

12:00:00


	9. Chapter 9

_Previously, on 24_

_For the past six months, Unova has been plagued by terrorist attacks. Hundreds of people have died so far and the police aren't any closer to fighting the terrorists. Now, the terrorists have launched international attacks, striking at the heart of the Sinnoh and Hoenn Regions. It is suspected that after six months, the terrorists are planning a large operation set to take place in the next twenty-four hours. The whole operation was well planned, with agents moved in places like the captain of the Royal Unova. One high commander moves the pieces and has certain assets, such as Professor Zenger working for him to create new technology that will end the war in the favor of the terrorists. _

_Thrown into the mix of things is Orion, a sixteen year old trainer with powerful pokemon and multiple victories under his belt. For the past six months, he's been fighting the most against the terrorists, so much so that the terrorists have labeled him as the primary target. Also thrown into the mix is Malik, a twenty year old trainer known as an assassin. He is accompanied by his life-long companion lucario, who is a quite powerful aura guardian. Orion has called him, hoping to give him some information about the terrorists that Malik might be able to use to his advantage. However, when they meet in the great city of Castelia, terrorists who have known ahead of time about their meeting launched a massive attack that successfully captured Orion and destroyed one of the buildings. The attack was led by five individuals known as Shadow Squad. After the attack, Malik kills two of them._

_Malik escapes with the information and makes his way to Nimbasa City for help from Orion's girlfriend. Also in the chaos of the whole situation is Steven Stone, the former champion of Hoenn and a good friend of Malik and Orion. He's currently in Unova as a political consultant and representative from the Hoenn Region. While Malik's in Nimbasa city, he investigates a local mercenary group and finds someone who gives information that could reveal that the mercenaries are working with the terrorists. However, the informant is killed in police headquarters. To add to the chaos, a suspect from an earlier failed attack is assassinated by a terrorist agent who has infiltrated the police. The terrorist agent evades capture by way of Skyarrow Bridge. Later, Steven reads a file about new political developments in the Unova region and about people who want to see an uprising of the people to replace the current government and replace it with martial law. To his dismay, Steven reads how the group is gaining more strength with the locals._

_Meanwhile, the high commander of this entire operation summons the remains of Shadow Squad and orders them to hunt down Malik and keep him from using the information he received against the terrorists. Shadow Squad hunts down Malik to Nimbasa where they attack him and Orion's girlfriend, Trisha. Malik and Trisha escape by hiding underground until the terrorists find them. Malik leads Shadow Squad astray and surprises them by showing them his capability of traveling to the reverse world. After Shadow Squad sees Malik escape by use of his portal-creating device, they withdraw. Malik takes off his assassin garb and dons the clothes of a simple civilian. He and Trisha make their way to a local restaurant and so that they can look at what little data Trisha decrypted. There, Malik makes a connection with the information and realizes that before the major terrorist attacks took place, the terrorists targeted one hundred and thirty-four former assassins for assassination. After this discovery, Trisha tells Malik that she might know where her missing brother, Yusuf, is and that he has the only other computer capable of decrypting the rest of the data. The two leave Nimbasa City together to find him._

_In the background, a single young girl is traveling alone in the north. This little girl reaches the western river that cuts through the middle of Unova. There, she finds an old fisherman's boat and sets sail downstream from Tubeline Bridge to the Driftveil Drawbridge. _

Part Two: The Wrong Battle

The following takes place between 12 P.M. and 1 P.M.

A single desolate castle of old dominates the top of the snow covered mountain. From the north, a fierce blizzard batters the walls and towers with relentless force. All but one of the castle's towers had crumbled from age and the force of the elements. Snow and ice filled the insides of many of the rooms, creating ghostly voids where no one lived. Walls had crumbled into ruins. The wind whistled like a low moan through abandoned halls and desolate corridors. Not even the vanillish in the area took shelter in the mysterious castle. Not a single pokemon inhabited the structure. Locals who knew of the castle spoke of it in whispers, never brave enough to speak of it normally. Whoever mentioned the castle aloud received sharp hisses and scolding from others. Anyone brave enough to attempt to climb the mountain's steep slopes and cliffs usually found a mysterious force preventing them from approaching closer to the castle. So the legend grew in local towns. People spoke of restless spirits, strange specters in the night, and even of the castle being the gateway to #!*% . However, no one denied that something, whether natural or supernatural, occurred inside the castle. For every night, when the sky had cleared, the moon shined above, and the castle was fully visible from the valley below, a light appeared in one of the top rooms of the castle. It occurred every night, forcing people to increase the rumors of the place.

Within the castle, in the room from whence the light shined, a man of seemingly hundreds of years paced around a single contraption set in the middle of the room. The contraption looked like the combination of a compass and a giant clock, but it had many other metal works attached to it. Gears turned in constant motion. What appeared to be a massive globe hovered over the entire contraption, except that it was made up of multiple parts that spun and weaved around each other. Every few steps, the pacing man would pull a pocket watch from the folds of his cloak and study it. Suddenly, one of the arms of the giant clock like contraption moved slightly around the massive circle. The weaving parts of the hovering globe spun faster until the arm of the clock stopped with a loud bell-like sound. _Bong! _The sound bounced off the walls and ceiling, filling the room with the bell note. The pacing man ceased to move and studied the massive contraption. After the bell-like sound faded into nothingness, the weaving parts of the globe stopped spinning. The man studied the globe with a piercing gaze, and then looked down at the massive contraption, studied at the watch in his hand, and smiled. He walked over to where a bird-type pokemon sat on the single windowsill and watched the outside world. Looking down again at his watch, he stroked the neck of the pokemon with his free hand. "Soon. Very soon. All will be accomplished exactly as it was meant to be."

Naval commander Deiderich paced on the bridge of his flagship, waiting for something new to come in. The fact that his valued shadow squad hadn't returned yet from HQ told him that the high commander was employing them for some other mission. As tempting as it was to find out what their mission was, he decided it best to focus on what was on his own plate at the moment.

Despite the waterways around Castelia City being clogged with police squad boats and delayed freighters, no one had found the submerged fleet. Perfect. The entire mission would have to be called off if the submerged fleet was discovered. How intriguing that missions so enormous, they stretched overseas to other regions, could easily be foiled by something so simple as finding a submerged fleet of boats as long as skyscrapers. Sometimes, the largest mission needed only the tiniest problems to unravel.

Commander Deiderich decided to walk over to the station devoted to monitoring civilian activities on the land. "What do you have? Are they scared?"

"People are scared all right sir."

"How much on the scared-o-meter?"

The admin at the station grinned. "Uh. I'd put them at eight or nine, given how they're evacuating the cities in droves. They don't yet realize that nowhere is safe for them when things start rolling."

Commander Deiderich grinned as well. "That's good. So long as they are scared, we have them exactly where we want them." He turned to the communications station. "I think it's time to contact our friends in the city."

The admin working at the station nodded and started tapping around on the computer to create a secure channel. After a few moments, the channel was made, and commander Deiderich tapped the com device in his ear. "This is naval commander Deiderich to Agent CC, checking in."

A voice replied, carried through the air by the invisible com channel. "This is Agent CC to Naval Commander Deiderich. What do you need sir?"

"I need a status report."

"Status report: yellow. We need a little more time before we're ready for the operation."

"How much time?"

"Only a few hours for the best chance of this operation working without any trouble."

"Very well. You are permitted three hours. But we are moving forward with the operation as planned so you had better be ready by then."

"Yes sir. We will be ready."

Commander Deiderich cut the com channel before risking anyone finding it. Having to operate in such conditions whilst half the world's police force floated overhead added to a stressful time. He decided to retreat to his quarters and take some rest while he could. No telling when the next phase of the grand plan would move forward. So as he walked to his quarters and rested on the bed, he reminded himself with one thought: patience, patience, patience.

Agent 5 arrived at the rendezvous precisely on schedule. There, a helicopter waited to carry him to his next objective, where he would carry out another mission. The wind created by the twin rotors of the helicopter stirred the grass, and surrounding leaves. Any pokemon in the area had been scared away by the initial approach of the chopper. Agent 5 ducked his head and started running through the wind to the side doors of the chopper. There, two soldiers helped him climb aboard. Once inside, the doors were closed and the wind subsided. Meanwhile, outside, the wind increased as the twin rotors gained speed and the chopper took off.

Inside the belly of the chopper, Agent 5 found a third person aside from the two soldiers. The man sat back against the metal wall of the chopper, careful to keep his face hidden. He held up a touch pad computer with a gloved hand. "This is your new assignment. The chopper will deliver you to the drop site."

Agent 5 nodded and turned on the touch pad computer. The screen started displaying data about the objective, targets, and local security forces. After a few minutes perusing the information, Agent 5 nodded and returned the touch pad computer to the shadowed man. The shadowed man took and, to the shock of Agent 5, broke the computer in half. From the remains of the computer, he removed the data core and put it on the floor of the chopper. With a single smash from one of his booted feet, the data core broke into millions of pieces on the floor. Agent 5 stared in shock, but maintained his composure. Nothing could remain intact that could endanger the entire operation.

A change of altitude signaled that the chopper was approaching closer to the drop site. One of the soldiers opened the side door, creating an influx of air inside the helicopter. The floor shivered and pieces of the broken data core started moving on the floor and out the door to be lost forever in the vast expanse of forest below. The chopper continued to descend, close enough to the ground that the foliage and branches of the trees swayed as though in the middle of a weak hurricane. Once the tops of the trees were cleared, the chopper landed in the middle of a clearing. Agent 5 could see dozens of forest pokemon running through the brush and thickets to escape from the strange flying machine.

Agent 5 jumped out of the chopper, but a shout from behind caused him to turn back. The shadowed man was shouting, "Remember Agent 5, this mission is of great importance. Finish it with extreme prejudice."

Agent 5 saluted as best as he could in the midst of the hurricane force winds and started to run off. Once he passed the spinning rotor, the chopper started to take off. When agent 5 finally stopped running to look back at the chopper, all he saw was a single black dot on the horizon speeding steadily northward. Agent 5 continued to run off towards the objective. In the distance the towers of Black City rose up against the horizon. He kept running, planning his moves for the day to accomplish his mission.

12:9:57

12:9:58

12:9:59

12:10:00

Nimbasa City faded behind us, only evident by the few skyscrapers that still touched the sky. Trisha sat in the passenger seat of the red car we had "borrowed" with a GPS in her hands. Her fingers tapped the touch screen, working to navigate our way to the Driftveil Drawbridge. I sat in the driver's seat with my eyes forward, scanning the highway. Lucario, wearing the black cloaks, sat in the back seat, scanning around with Aura. Clogged lanes meant that we all inched forward at twenty miles per hour in a seventy-five mile per hour zone. Fear was a powerful weapon, I couldn't deny that. But still it surprised me how many people were actually trying to get out of the cities.

Trisha finished fiddling with the GPS and set it on the dashboard where I could see it. I noticed that she put in an address that was off road. "Does Yusuf not like company?"

"Well, I guess. He's not one for having everyone know where he is."

I nodded. "So why did he disappear in the first place?"

Trisha sighed and rested her head more onto her seat. "I don't know really. He just got kind of…weird."

I half glanced at her while still trying to drive the car. "Weird?"

"Yeah. Like, after the terrorist attacks got bigger, he dropped out of the Unova League, left nothing but a note pinned to the door of my apartment with an address and contact information, and then he disappeared. I visited him to ask if anything was wrong, and all he said was that he wouldn't fight the terrorists."

"Did he say why?"

"Only after I asked like half a billion times. All he said was that he didn't want to fight the terrorists because he'd be fighting the wrong way." I saw in the corner of my eye Trisha make one of those, "are you serious?" faces. "I mean, he's one of the toughest trainers in the world. He's beaten both the Johto and Kanto Leagues. He once almost beat one of the Elite Four of Unova. He's as tough as they come and he's saying that he won't fight the terrorists?"

"I take it you've said all of this to him already?"

"Yeah. I told him that he could have these attacks over tomorrow. And he was all like, 'These terrorist attacks were meant to take place. If I get in the way, what's meant to happen might not happen.'"

Now I turned my whole head and looked at her. "What the #!*% does he mean by that?"

"I don't know. Like I said: Weird."

I turned my head to focus on the road again. Questions started rolling in my head again. What could Yusuf have meant by that? Why does he think that way? Even though I looked at the questions as mathematical equations, there just seemed to be too many variables for me to solve it. "I guess we'll have to ask him when we get there."

Trisha looked at me. "Ask him what?"

"Ask him why he thinks that way. I'm curious."

"Believe me. You'll only get brain dead from him explaining it."

"Maybe. But I really want to know."

"Whatever. You deal with him."

"I'm planning on it." A steady ringing coming from my left arm alerted me. Trisha looked at my left arm too. "What is it?"

"Incoming phone call." I let go of the steering wheel to check. Trisha squeaked from shock and grabbed hold of the wheel before we turned the wrong way. I checked the small screen computer before activating my ear-bound phone. "Steven. I was looking forward to hearing from you." I took the steering wheel back from Trisha. "What do you got?"

I heard Steven sigh on the other side. "Nothing good I'm afraid."

My insides went cold. "What's happened?"

"The immunity agreement got signed off by each of the regional governments and I left to interrogate the suspect from the harbor bombing and we hit a dead end."

"What kind of dead end?"

"A literary dead end. A terrorist sleeper agent inside the police force poisoned the suspect."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah. He was dead before we could help him."

"What about the sleeper agent?"

"He got away. We swept the land around where he was last seen but couldn't find him."

" #!*% ." I said under my breath. "What about the mercenaries? Have you checked them out?"

"Negative. The police have to follow protocol. Without ample evidence, we can't justify a raid on private property owned by a government-recognized business. With what I've told the police chief about the informant, we could get a court order for a more aggressive search, but that could take weeks at best. And if it's true that the terrorists are launching something big in the next twenty-four hours, weeks just won't cut it in any universe."

"What about the search you did this morning?"

"That was a government-sanctioned search to make sure that the business wasn't connected with terrorists. But the mercenaries could have been showing us falsified data. A second government-sanctioned search could cause trouble in the political realm."

"In other words, you can't do much of anything?"

"Precisely. We're stuck like magikarp out of water."

"Brilliant."

"So what's going on at your end? Did you get that information decrypted?"

"Half of it. I'm on my way to another contact to get the rest of the information decrypted."

"I guess that's good. Have you found anything yet?"

"I have, but I don't want to talk about it over the phone."

"Roger that. Not to add on the pressure, but you're Unova's last hope. Please do what you can."

"I will." With that, I cut off the com channel. Trisha was looking at me with a funny look on her face. "What was that?"

"That was Steven Stone."

"The Steven Stone? The former champion of the Hoenn Region?"

"That's correct. He's in Unova as a political representative for Hoenn. But he's also helping me from inside the police force. They had a suspect this morning, but he was killed by a sleeper agent inside the police force."

"What?"

"Yeah. And the sleeper agent evaded capture. So now the police force is back to square one."

"But what was that about mercenaries?"

"Steven had investigated a mercenary gang in Castelia City where he found an informant who told him all this stuff about how the mercenaries are linked to the terrorists in some big ways. But the informant was assassinated and they now don't have enough evidence to justify an aggressive raid of the mercenary "business".

"So then, what's the point? I mean, if the police aren't doing enough to stop the terrorists, we might as well roll over and play dead."

"That's where I'm trying to help. I operate outside of the law and the limitations of the police. I can go places where they can't."

"Great. So let's keep going."

12:24:57

12:24:58

12:24:59

12:25:00

Orion slowly opened his eyes after the some number time he'd blacked out from the torture. His right eye slowly opened, but his left eye refused to open, it was so bruised. Senses from his body returned agonizingly and now he could map out his body. Upon arrival at wherever he was, the terrorists had stripped him of everything except his pants. Next they had locked his feet with chains at the ankles. Two steel handcuffs strapped his wrists and hung him from the ceiling by chains. And then they left him there, dangling and losing circulation. After a few minutes, the pain was at its peak and kept going. The manacles cut into his skin, to the point where if he moved slightly, his wrists and ankles burned as if they were on fire. The loss of circulation caused his arms and legs to go numb, so that when blood did rush back, it felt like pins and needles times a thousand. His shoulders felt sore from hanging in awkward positions. And that was just the first hour.

The next hour, the torturers came in with whips, red hot irons, and other torture implements that they proudly displayed in front of his face for their depraved enjoyment. And thus the torture began. Always, there stood a man in front of Orion who kept asking questions while the torture went on. First came the whips, which barreled down upon his bare back with the force and ferocity of a bouffalant. Each time they struck, the metal blades pierced his skin and tore it to pieces upon removal. Each blade brought on a wave of pain unlike any. Orion quivered, screamed, and cried. Sometimes, the blades of the whips didn't withdraw as easily much to the enjoyment of the torturers. At that point, they would take the whip with both hands and pull it in the wrong direction, the wrong direction being the way to _not _cleanly remove the blades. All Orion remembered was feeling pain upon his entire backside, it felt like they had set aflame, followed shortly by a rush of cold wind on his muscles and rib cage.

After each torture session, the torturers became battlefield medics, applying bandages upon the wounds they inflicted. Orion thought it mighty decent of them, except for the fact that the bandages were purposefully soaked in some liquid that made his insides burn like #!*% . They even gave him blood transfusions so that he wouldn't die from loss of blood, of which he was losing a lot of. While all this took place, they kindly placed two mirrors around him so that he could look at the wounds inflicted on his back. Somehow, just seeing the scars and blood made that wounds hurt even more.

Whilst the bandages did their work, one of the torturers "exercised" by punching Orion's face and torso. From that "exercise" the torturer gave Orion the bruised face. In return, Orion had spat saliva mixed with blood in the guy's eye, which in turn, rewarded him a bruised, cut up, and disfigured face.

After all that, the man who stood back and asked questions would come forward and ask Orion the same questions. He too received saliva mixed with blood in the face. And so, the torture began again. The bandages were ripped off, opening up the wounds and the torturers set to work. They always used something different in each session. This time, they used chains, which they whirled around Orion, creating a mind-repulsing sound of grating iron. With these chains, they swung at his back. It didn't so much cut as it did bludgeon. Now that skin and some muscle had been removed, the chains were free to wreak havoc on the muscles and bone. But they didn't just swing at his back. The torturers with Satan-given vile, swung the chains at Orion's chest, arms, and legs. The chains would wrap around the limbs, leaving bruises that stretched around the arm or leg like rings. Behind Orion, the torturers started up a competition: who could break the first wrist or ankle. So they swung at Orion's wrists and ankles, trying to break them. One of them broke the first ankle, which sent waves of pain shooting of Orion's leg. The next chain hit broke Orion's left wrist. It was a bad mistake on the torturer's side, since the broken wrist caused the whole hand to slip through the shackle. The arm slumped forward in front of Orion, creating more waves of pain as the soreness in his shoulder came roaring back like a furnace. Upon seeing his wrist, Orion's eyes widened as best they could when he saw that the shackle had scraped off his the skin and muscle of his left wrist, leaving the pale white bone fully exposed. After seeing the injury done to his wrist, the pain increased both mentally and physically. Orion cried and screamed.

The medics in the torture chamber – real medics this time – placed skin grafts on the wrist and restricted it from being locked up. So now, the torturers strapped chains around Orion's arm at the elbow, which cut off even more circulation and had him hanging at an angle. Orion found himself wishing they could have done the same to his right wrist so they'd be forced to strap up both his elbows and make hanging there more comfortable.

After bandages and blood transfusions, the terrorists tried chemicals, sound, and even little machines that burrowed into Orion's body. And after each session, the same man who sat back would ask more questions, to which Orion would remain silent. And now, Orion's opened yet again. He could still feel pain from every injury, something the torturers had made sure he would with chemicals that made his nerves extra sensitive to every feeling. Upon opening his right eye, Orion studied the room. No one was in. He had no sense of time. It could be days or weeks after his capture for all he knew. The terrorists might have made the regional governments fall on bended knee in subservience.

The door in front of him opened and a single man walked in. He wore a uniform, with all the ribbons and insignia of a high ranking officer. His face was weathered, like one who had seen many troubles and the left side held old pink scars. "Hello Orion."

Orion couldn't respond, as his mouth was as dry as space. The officer continued. "I hear you can't speak, so I'll do all the speaking for now. If you accept my terms, I'll make sure you have a feast fit for a king and all the water you could want to sate your thirst. May I go on?"

Orion couldn't move to say no. So naturally, the officer continued. "My name is Dracous. I am the leader of these freedom fighters, those whom you call terrorists."

For some unknown reason, Orion found the strength and the ability to lurch his body forward and form enough spittle to hurl at Dracous. The act of moving brought fresh waves of pain from everywhere and the spittle barely cleared a foot before dropping to the ground about two feet in front of Dracous. Dracous shook his head. "Don't try to resist. You're only making it worse for yourself. For the life of me, I don't know why you're resisting at all. We're freedom fighters, trying to free people from that which enslaves them. You are but a supporter of that which enslaves them. But enough of that for now. I have but one question for you. And not the usual question my torturers have asked you. I do not expect an instant reply." Orion stared at Dracous with his one unwavering eye, as though to invoke a challenge. "Here's the question: where can I find The Vault?"

If Orion's eyes could widen in shock, they would have. Instead, he blinked his right eye in apparent surprise. "Don't worry. I don't expect an immediate answer. But think on this. You can either tell me where The Vault is and be freed from this torture chamber and given food and drink aplenty. Or you can remain silent and remain in here where you will be tortured endlessly until I have what I need. Even if you do not supply me with an answer, I will find The Vault. The real question is this: will I find it on my own or will you tell me. You see, it will be so much easier on all of us if you tell me. But if I find it without you help, I will have no more need for you, and you will die. By my grace, you have been kept alive through these torture sessions through bandages, skin grafts, and blood transfusions. But if you don't tell me what I want to know and I find The Vault, you will die. You understand that?"

Orion couldn't move but mentally, he considered what Dracous had said. Satisfied, Dracous turned to leave. The door clanged shut, and Orion was left there with his thoughts, thinking about Dracous' offer and his question. The Vault. Why did Dracous want The Vault?

12:37:57

12:37:58

12:37:59

12:38:00

The high commander, Dracous, walked through the halls and corridors of the fortress. Everyone he passed ceased what they were doing to salute him passing by. Dracous nowadays rarely returned the salute, a ritual his underlings had grown used to. Finally arriving at his destination, he entered through a guarded door. Entering, he found another man working in a hi-tech room. Opera music was playing in the background. Multiple computers in the room took care of a majority of the tasks. An entire wall served as a white board which was covered in complicated mathematical equations and crudely drawn diagrams. On the far side of the room, a giant table supported multiple pieces of machinery, taken from computers mostly. A single bed and mattress was the only comfortable furniture in the room. The other man in the room looked up in shock as Dracous entered the room. "High commander. To what do I owe the…pleasure of this…visit?"

"Professor Zenger, I'm here to check in on your progress. Are you any closer to creating a device that can cast illusions?"

"I'm not." Professor Zenger saw Dracous frown in a menacing way. "But I'm close and getting closer. I need only a little more time."

"That's better. I knew you could do it." Dracous' voice was as smooth as oil and as calm as that of a mother complimenting her child. "For the job, I require it to fool people who are looking through TV screens as well."

"I…I figured that high commander and have already programmed it in. I just need some more time."

"Very well. You have one hour. Fail to complete it in that time and I will make your wife into a widow. Then I will kill her and the children."

"I…I understand. I'll complete it before then."

"That's good, Professor Zenger. For everyone." Dracous smiled and turned to leave, leaving Professor Zenger even more frantic to complete his work.

Dracous navigated the halls and corridors of his castle until he arrived at his personal command center. In the privacy of the room and overlooking the central command center, Dracous sat behind his desk and closed his eyes. He meditated on his grand plan for the trillionth time, looking for flaws. So far, everything had gone off without a hitch. Except of course, for the assassin. He would still be trouble. But then again, Dracous thought, maybe he could use the assassin. Would it be possible? Maybe. Only time would tell.

12:49:57

12:49:58

12:49:59

12:50:00

The current was smooth and swift, carrying the tiny craft and its cargo down river to the ocean. The girl eased her rowing to conserve strength. Three times since leaving had water type pokemon attacker her with ferocity. It slightly concerned her. She had never known the river pokemon to be so riled up. Because of the multiple attacks, eelektross now sat full time on the bow of the little boat to protect from further attacks. By now, Tubeline Bridge had disappeared in the distance. All there was to see was river and forested banks. She had no way of figuring out where she was located on the river. All she had to do was row and sooner or later, she'd reach her destination. Her thoughts wandered to why the water pokemon were so riled up.

It must have been the times. She had always heard that pokemon were more tuned to the goings on of the world than humans. Perhaps these days of terrorist attacks and danger had the water pokemon riled up. If that was the case, then perhaps every pokemon in Unova was disturbed by what was happening. The girl cringed at the memories of seeing eelektross when it was riled up. Her thoughts transferred those memories to an imaginative situation where every pokemon wandering the land was freaking out.

She pulled the oars harder to distract her from her thoughts. Better not to think about it and strain to reach her destination sooner. Forest passed quickly by while she rowed. She stopped rowing a while as she turned her body and look forward. Nothing ahead caught her eye except more water. But something on shore attracted her attention. Three older men were busily pushing a boat out onto the river. They were dressed with the average garb of fishermen, and the girl could see fishing rods hanging over the edges of the boat. Deciding that they probably didn't represent a threat to her, and secure thinking that eelektross would protect her, she slowed down her boat by creating drag in the water with the oars. The boat slowed and with help from the oars, steadily turned to move towards the fishermen. She then stowed the oars in the bottom of the boat and shouted out, "Hello there!"

The three fishermen looked up from their boat to see who was shouting. When they saw the little girl, they waved their hands and one of them shouted, "Hello to you! And a good afternoon!"

The boats came along side each other. The fishermen were first to ask questions. "So what's a little girl like you doing out here?"

The girl already had a preprogrammed response for the question. "My father is a fisherman and asked me to visit my grandmother in Driftveil City. It's much faster by boat." It was all a lie, but a convincing one.

The fisherman nodded with understanding. "Is there something wrong with her granny?"

Yet another preprogrammed response came out. "She's just scared and needs someone she knows close by to comfort her. All the terrorist attacks after all." Another lie.

Here, all three fishermen nodded in understanding. "Aye. Those darn terrorist attacks affect us all."

The girl nodded in agreement. "Yeah. My dad's not too happy with them either. Someone ought to do something about them."

"Well little girl. You're in luck. In fact, you are conversing with three people who are in the process of doing something about them."

The girl raised her eyebrows. "Yeah right. You're just some fishermen. What can you do to stop the terrorist attacks?"

"Oh, but we are doing something. Have you ever wondered why we live in such a technologically advanced age and yet the terrorists keep attacking and hurting people?"

The girl nodded.

"Well, the reason for that is that the regional government is inefficient."

The girl leaned her head to one side in confusion. "Inefficient. Inefficient how?"

"Well, it's not doing everything it could to keep common citizens like you and me safe from terrorist attacks. But we're going to change it."

"You're going to change it? How?"

"We're part of this large movement in the Unova Region. We stand with tens of thousands of people who support the same idea, that the current government is inefficient. When we gain enough strength, we'll mass together and force the regional government to change."

"Change how?"

"You ask a lot of questions little girl. But that's good. Good for education. We'll change the government to accept martial law, and that'll keep us safe from the regional governments."

"Martial law? Isn't that the form of government when the leadership becomes dictatorial and people have fewer freedoms?"

"Well, yes. But it's all necessary. You see, in exchange for those freedoms, the government will be able to utilize more security forces to keep us safe. The terrorists will be stopped and then we'll be safe from further attacks. Does it all make sense now?"

"Yeah. I guess so. But how do you know that martial law will change anything?"

"Don't worry. It will. These terrorists must think by now that they control the Unova Region. But they don't, and when martial law is enacted, terrorists will be captured and forced to give up information that will lead to more terrorists being captured. Their whole crime organization will fall, and we will be part of their downfall."

The girl acted as though impressed. "Well, that's cool. I hope it works out, for all our sakes."

"Don't worry little girl. It will."

"Well then, I'd best be going. Shouldn't leave granny alone for too long."

"That's right. Row along little girl. Soon, your granny and everyone else in the world will be safe from future terrorist attacks."

The girl pushed her boat and used the oars to achieve propulsion through the water. Before long, the fishermen disappeared in the distance. All the while, she thought about what the fishermen had said. Was it possible that what they said was true? Was the regional government so inefficient against terrorists that it needed to be replaced with martial law? Maybe. Maybe not. She would have to ask her friend about it. He knew more than she did. Until then, she only had to row. Nothing but row.

12:59:57

12:59:58

12:59:59

1:00:00


	10. Chapter 10

The following takes place between 1 P.M. and 2 P.M.

The towering trees of White Forest, surrounded by the massive skyscrapers of black City, created an odd scenic view for Agent 5, who wandered through the city park. Like how the old city of Oppelucid City met the more advanced new city in strong contrast, Black City and White Forest created an odd combination of the rural and the urban. Agent 5 gazed around like a tourist with fake interest at what lay around him. His mind constantly dwelled on the mission at hand, the mission given to him by the high commander.

Before entering the city, Agent 5 had changed clothes from his police garb into something more civilian and comfortable. The police clothes, he had burned, estimating that it would take the police weeks to track him here, even if they did know where to look. Now, agent 5 could wander the city streets and the forest sidewalks without arousing suspicion. Perfect.

Black city and White Forest looked like an oversized and oblong ying yang, stretching from east to west. White Forest encompassed the western side of the city, favoring the water of the Eastern River which allowed the trees to grow to such impressive heights. Black City was almost thirty percent bigger than White Forest, and stretched further east and north, further disfiguring the ying yang shape. On the outskirts of both parts of the city, growing suburbs and neighborhoods dominated the land for miles around. From the outskirts of White Forest, forested foothills stretched endlessly all the way to Marvelous Bridge which held the only access from the city to the central peninsula of Unova. The growing suburbs of Black City also covered the land like a creature that devoured massive amounts of land. It was the fastest growing city in the world, thought to soon rival Castelia City in size and complexity. Older suburbs were torn to down to be replaced with massive skyscrapers which stabbed into the sky like black daggers. So long as pokemon trainers kept traveling here to participate in the numerous battle events, tournaments, and what-not, the city would grow. Highways, which also grew to hold more vehicles, connected the City with half of the eastern cities of Unova. A massive and complex train system also connected the city with Nimbasa City, which in turn connected it to Castelia City and Driftveil City.

Meanwhile, White Forest grew at its own rate. Trees took time to grow. The terrorist attacks never helped anything. White Forest usually attracted arson attacks from terrorists who hoped to burn this symbol of communing with nature. As for Black City, the growing city had attracted corruption and crime organizations long before the attacks took place. But once the high commander had gained control of the crime organizations, he immediately had claws on the entire city. Security systems, less advanced than its cousins in Oppelucid City, failed to prevent terrorist attacks. Agent 5 walked past the charred remains of one of White Forest's massive trees. It confused him as to why the high commander had restricted further attacks on Black City like the one that had just taken place in Castelia City. If I had my way, Agent 5 thought, I would topple every skyscraper and burn every tree in this city. It made no sense to him the thinking of the high commander. Black City was the very symbol of government corruption, inflation, people under the grip of greed and evil.

As Agent 5 exited White Forest and entered again the forest of steel known as Black City, he passed a small crowd of people standing around a metal pole that hoisted several TV screens. A newswoman from Tranquil 4 News was doing a news report on the air at the moment. Recognizing the importance of blending in, Agent 5 joined the small crowd and watched the TV screens. Despite the noise of city life behind him, Agent 5 caught the words of the broadcast. "…and we can only pray that no such attacks take place. In other news, another attack on individual people took place earlier in Nimbasa City, the first such attack to take place since the attack on Tubeline Bridge. Police say they have not caught the attackers or even found out who the targets were. The attack took place at an apartment complex in the outskirts of Nimbasa City, along the river side. Authorities report some occupants of the apartment reporting to the hospital for injuries, but no one who saw the attackers." The report intrigued Agent 5. He thought that Tubeline Bridge meant they didn't need to attack individual targets again. He had personally participated in hunting down one or two of the targets six months ago. That too confused Agent 5. Why would the high commander divert so many valuable resources to hunting and killing nobodies? The targets were truly nobodies. They had no connections and they couldn't have possibly resisted the terrorists. One hundred and thirty-four nobodies lost their lives and it made no sense. The high commander was very mum on certain facts. It would have made more sense if the targets were elite fours or champions or powerful gym leaders. But not. The high commander specifically targeted these one hundred and thirty-four nobodies.

Agent 5 decided to put these thoughts aside and focus again on the news broadcast. "Police are unavailable for comment on the attack and are seemingly unaware of why the attack even took place. Our top story today: new political movement gains strength in the Unova Region. Tens of thousands of people join forces to replace the current government with one that enacts martial law in an effort to stop the terrorists. To discuss this, we have a panel of representatives with us today." The camera turned to reveal a table off to the side with three people sitting at it. The news woman conducting the broadcast started to introduce them. "We have with us Gregory Valdez, the top political analyst of the Unova Region. Joining him is Alicia Chaney, political representative of the International Police. Finally, we have the man who started and organized this new political movement with us: John Samuels. Welcome." All three of the people at the table nodded and mumbled greetings. Thus, the interview began.

Newswoman: "Let's start with you Mr. Samuels. What exactly does your new political movement hope to achieve?"

John Samuels: "This new political movement will be a demonstration of the people of Unova, who have lived for too long in fear of terrorist attacks while the police forces have failed time and time again to prevent these terrorist attacks. We are a demonstration of the people not just to change the government, but to change how it is that we are protected from terrorist attacks. In the minds of the people, it's been six months too long for the police to actually start doing something to stop these attacks from taking place. While people were dying every day in those first two months, the police sat back and did nothing, thinking that the attacks would go away on their own. But did they? No. The attack on Tubeline Bridge, which injured many individuals and restricted train travel in the north western quadrant of Unova, was testament to the fact that the police have waited far too long to actually start doing something to stop these terrorists. The attack should have been a wake-up call for everyone in the world, that this wasn't just another crime organization, but an enemy that is out to destroy Unova, to destroy our freedoms, and to destroy everything else we hold so dear and still take for granted. Since then, attacks have taken place again and again in Unova, and not just here, but in Sinnoh and Hoenn. And now people suspect that Kanto and Johto will be the next regions to be targeted by this relentless enemy." It was at this point that the representative from the International Police tried to interject with a statement about enforced security measures when Mr. Samuels interrupted. "More than one thousand people have lost their lives from these terrorist attacks from a number of different attacks, ranging from random attacks, to explosions in buildings, to bio weapons in our malls." Mr. Samuels pulled a piece of paper from a folder that sat in front of him. "I have here with me, a report from my sources in the Sinnoh Region, than an entire hotel in Hearthome City has been closed down and quarantined because of a bio weapon that has been released in the ventilation shaft. Since the first chemical agent attack on Shopping Mall 9 which killed twenty people and incapacitated several more, only one other bio weapons have been used against the civilian population and now this recent attack makes three bio weapon attacks so far. Now, does that match the profile of a crime organization? The least a crime organization with possession of bio weapons could o is have the courtesy of making demands. But from this enemy, we haven't heard any demand except this one, which they constantly make of us with every attack: that we die. That is their demand, and they make that perfectly clear through each of their attacks. The death toll may be under two thousand right now, but who knows. By the end of the day, it could be well above three thousand. They want us to die. Why else do they need to resort to using bio weapons in our shopping malls and hotels? They aren't some crime organization that can be understood and annihilated. They are a relentless enemy that will stop at nothing until we are all dead or enslaved." Agent 5 stood in awe at what was just said. This man was closer to the truth than anyone.

The newswoman cleared her throat nervously. "Okay. Well, mister Valdez, what do you have to reply to Mr. Samuels'…um…concerns?"

Mr. Valdez: "Well, I can certainly understand your concerns Mr. Samuels. I have a family who I love very dearly. I have a beautiful wife and three wonderful kids living at home right now and I understand that I wouldn't want anything to happen to them. And you raise a valid point that with so many attacks and so many deaths that this enemy isn't any ordinary crime organization. They're terrorists who we are currently dealing with."

Mr. Samuels: "Tell that to all the people who are evacuating the cities after this morning's attacks. Two attacks in Oppelucid City, a large explosion in Castelia harbor, an attack in Nimbasa City. And need I mention the entire building that came tumbling down in Castelia City? What we are witnessing is the darkest day in history and it isn't over yet."

Mr. Valdez: "The attack in Castelia City that brought down the Hewitt Building was a single incident that harmed very few people."

Mr. Samuels: "Only through luck. I've heard all of the reports. That the fire alarm prior to the attack caused everyone to evacuate before the building came down. But what if that alarm never sounded? We wouldn't be mourning the collapse of a building and the deaths of a handful of people. We would be mourning the deaths of hundreds of people and not even caring that the building came down. We were lucky this time and I'm sure this whole event teaches us to make sure our fire alarms still work in our houses, but let's face facts. Open your eyes Mr. Valdez; wake up. There's a reality out there that you're just not seeing: that if the terrorists can undermine your security and destroy an entire building in the middle of a populated city, what's stopping it from happening again?"

Mr. Valdez: "We had no idea that the attack was going to take place…" Wrong move, thought Agent 5. Really wrong move. Mr. Samuels unleashed on Mr. Valdez.

"You had no idea? So you plead ignorance? How exactly does pleading ignorance solve our problems?" Mr. Samuels was on his feet with more papers in his hand. He started to walk around the table, handing the papers to his fellow representatives and anyone else in the studio. "I have here reports from my sources in Castelia City that the terrorists conducted the attack with five soldiers mounted on hydreigons and with twelve helicopters that flew right into the middle of the city _while _the city was under increased security measures from the harbor bombing. Eyewitnesses report that the police had at least a dozen surveillance drones over the city at the time of the attack and that there is no way in #!*% they couldn't have seen the attack coming several minutes in advance. And yet, under increased security measures and with twelve surveillance drones in the air, five terrorists flying on pokemon and twelve helicopters flew right into the midst of the city for all people to see and destroyed an entire building. The police never reacted until you see the smoke from the explosion in Lacunosa Town, and even then, they didn't do anything to stop the terrorists."

Mrs. Chaney tried to interrupt: "Mr. Samuels, we have raised security measures. Every cop and every pokemon trainer who wants to help are out there in the cities right now making sure something like this doesn't happen again."

Mr. Samuels turned on Mrs. Chaney with a burst of rage. "Let me read the names of some of the victims of the Castelia attack. Ernest Clearwater. He's a father of two daughters. His wife died in the attack on Shopping Mall Nine. Now his daughters are both orphans and have to find new parents. Celeste Rodriguez. She's a widow whose husband died of cancer two years ago. She was working extra hours in the Hewitt building to raise more money for her son, who at this moment is in the hospital with the flu and now has to be told that his mom isn't coming home. Viktor Hearthing. He has two siblings, a brother and a sister who are living in Driftveil City with their parents. Now the family has to be told that their eldest son has been killed in this morning's attack if they don't know already. Here are some more names: Frederick Irving, Kelsey Mullin, and Jake Samson. These are real people with real lives who died a real and scary death. They had lives like you and me. They had jobs to support themselves. Some had families. They're not just names on a paper or digits on a causalities list. Mr. Valdez, you said you had a family. I'm sure they're real people with real lives, a fact that I highly respect. But you know what? These terrorists – nay, these monsters – don't respect that fact. They'll use anything, bio weapons, explosives, assassinations, and even the sacred power of pokemon to take lives. Do you think they'll hesitate but a second to take the lives of you and your family? Do you think they'll hesitate a second to unleash another attack, even if it kills thousands of real people? No! They'll stop at nothing until we are all dead or enslaved. Simply talking about increased security measures isn't enough. We need increased security measures that will actually work." Now he turned and faced the camera. "People of Unova, think for yourselves. These terrorists have played their card and have proven that they will do whatever is necessary. And when the next building comes tumbling down, there might not be a lucky fire alarm to warn us. People have died and people will die. I implore you, as a real person to real people, to join me and my political movement and force the government to change. We need a government that will enact martial law and keep our citizens safe. If they won't do it, then it is the duty of us, the citizens of this fair land, to force them out of their seat of power and to do whatever is necessary to keep our families, our children, and our friends safe from these monsters who seek to take their lives. If you agree, then join me. The website is .org. Join, and let's change the world."

The broadcast ended. Once the screens went black, people started to talk amongst themselves. "Do you think he's right?"

"Of course he is. Didn't you hear what he said? It's time for action."

As much as Agent 5 wanted to stay and revel in the animated conversations, he knew he needed to get started on his mission. So quietly, he walked away from the crowd and started towards the alleyways, still marveling at the words Mr. Samuels had just spoken. Absolutely amazing. That man could speak such powerful words. He would have all of Unova at his beck and call, exactly as the high commander had planned.

1:24:57

1:24:58

1:24:59

1:25:00

I only just managed to exit the highway and enter the country road. Dust rose as the car tires pounded it endlessly. Potholes in the road created a very bumpy ride. More than once, my taller stature caused my head to slam into the ceiling with a loud thump. Trisha bounced around in her seat as well. Lucario in the back seat I saw had it much better with his ability to roll with the bumps. I didn't know if it was an illusion, but it almost looked like lucario wasn't moving.

Trees on either side of the road looked in need of attending, as the overreaching branches created a natural tunnel, through which we traveled. The light that filtered through had a more dim and mysterious feel to it. Even through the closed windows, I could smell the forest outside. The trees seemed to be alive with pokemon. Mile after mile passed as I we drove through the country. Finally, I decided to comment. "How much farther out in the middle of nowhere can you get?"

Trisha grinned. "Not much farther. He lives in a cottage on the river side. The road will soon curve that way."

Sure enough, up ahead, the road made a steady left curve, thus leading us to the Western River. "Does he know that we're coming?"

"Well, we're still driving, which means he must know and is letting us through."

"What do you mean?"

"That latios he caught a long time ago. The latios serves as a watcher. Sight sharing allows Yusuf to see everything that latios sees. So if latios has seen us, which is most likely, then Yusuf has seen us too, and is letting us through."

"Doesn't sight sharing require two eon pokemon?"

"You'd think that. I don't know how Yusuf does it. He can sight share with latios without another eon pokemon. Weird, isn't it."

"Yeah." We continued onward. The road held a few more twists and turns, but we were still heading in the general direction of the river. At long last, I could smell the river. "We must be nearly there."

"Yeah. Just beyond this curve." We took the curve and found on the other side, the sparkling blue of the Western River and on the riverbank, a small cottage with a red tile roof and chimney. "Nice place."

"Yeah. But it's a bit Spartan. You'll see what I mean when we go inside."

I parked the car in front of the cottage and we all got out. I mentally checked with lucario who sensed only one human inside the building with two other pokemon. Sounded okay. We walked up to the front porch. Trisha raised a fist to knock on the door, but before she could, the door opened. A young man, no older than eighteen or nineteen, stood in the doorway. He was blonde, with a thin mustache and stubble on his chin. He wore a very simple white t-shirt, blue jeans, and tennis shoes. But his eyes caught my attention. They were a bright blue, with specks of silver swimming in them. The eyes spoke of one who held surpassing kindness and wisdom. To add to that, his smile, which he adopted when he saw Trisha, didn't look fake or forced in the least, but natural, relaxed, and so friendly. It was now, that I noticed the smile wrinkles on his face. Yusuf must have been the most social person in the world to have those wrinkles. He held out his arms, waiting for a hug from his little sister. Trisha jumped into his arms and the two embraced heartily. "Trisha. Little sis. It's been too long."

Trisha looked up into her big brother's bright blue eyes. "Yeah, it's been too long. But whose fault is that?"

Yusuf laughed a cheery laugh that you couldn't help but appreciate. "That's yours. I never said you could visit once a year."

Trisha too laughed. "It hasn't been a year since I last visited. And you know that it's your fault for disappearing like you did."

Yusuf smiled. "Come on. If I was around all the time, these reunions wouldn't be as special." He let go of Trisha and turned his attention to me. "And who are you?"

I offered my right hand for a handshake. "My name's Malik. I needed your help and Trisha was kind enough to bring me here."

Yusuf shook his head. "No, no, no. Who are you? Surely you are more than just a name and a job."

His reply caught me off guard. Those blue eyes pierced into me like twin daggers that drew no blood or enmity. "My name's Malik."

Yusuf sighed as if from frustration. "Very well. I guess I don't need to know who you are right now. Please come in." It was as if he had never heard my name. When Yusuf turned his back to go inside, Trisha waved her finger in a circle around her ear and then followed Yusuf inside. I and lucario followed next, consulting mentally. "Do you think he's stable mentally?"

Lucario sent a signal of confusion. "I don't know. Who are you?"

I sent a signal of annoyance to lucario. "You know who I am. I'm Malik."

"But what if he was right? What if you are more than a name and a job?"

"Don't pull that one on me. Stop talking." Lucario silenced. But the blasted question still haunted me. Who was I?

Annoyed with Yusuf, lucario, and myself, I decided to distract myself by studying the inside of the cottage. Upon entry, I found myself in what appeared to be the living room. Two couches faced each other over a gap filled in mostly by a coffee table. I couldn't see anything that looked remotely like a TV. A ceiling fan hanging from above spun around lazily. I could see Yusuf and Trisha entering what looked like the kitchen, which was only a refrigerator, an actually fire oven which explained the chimney, and a sink. At the entrance to the kitchen, a staircase led to the attic or loft or whatever Yusuf called it. I followed Yusuf and his sister into the kitchen, where I saw it connected to another room that held a simple round table and one chair. What shocked me was the number of books in the house. Books littered the floor, lined the dozens of bookshelves, and filled every nook and cranny. I could feel lucario feeling around with Aura. He sent a signal of shock to me. "What is it lucario?"

"The loft is filled to the rafters with books." I checked for myself. Lucario was right. This house was a library in itself.

The sound of the refrigerator door opening alerted me. Yusuf was pulling a container of pink juice out of the chiller and set it on the counter. "Do either of you want lemonade. Don't worry Trisha. This I bought at the store."

Trisha smiled and said, "Yeah, I'll take some."

Yusuf looked in my direction with those piercing eyes. I simply nodded my head, accepting the offer. Yusuf pulled three glasses out of the cupboard and started filling them halfway with the pink juice. He handed one to Trisha and then, to my complete and utter surprise, threw the next glass to me. The glass and pink juice flew through the air. My eyes tracked the arcs and curves of the glass and every drop of lemonade. With a single hand, I caught the glass, and caught the flying lemonade in it. Every single drop remained in the glass. Trisha looked dumbstruck through surprise. Yusuf only smiled. "See. I knew you were more than just a name and a job Malik."

"Does that mean we're on a first name basis?"

"No. You still haven't told me who you are." I gritted my teeth in frustration, Trisha rolled her eyes, and lucario mentally guffawed in my mind. "Now, let's sit in the living room." We all walked into the living room where I and lucario took one couch, and Yusuf and his sister took the other. We slowly sipped our cold lemonade in silence, as though sizing each other up. The cold lemonade slid down my throat and brought waves of relief to me. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was until then. Once satisfied that we were settled, Yusuf started the conversation. "So, what do you need?"

Trisha spoke up first. "I need that laptop computer I gave you as a birthday present two years ago. Do you still have it?"

"Yeah. Who do you think I am, getting rid of such a present? But what's wrong with your own? It's better than mine."

Trisha glanced at me. "It's smashed."

Yusuf took another sip of his lemonade. "I see. Interesting. Well, feel free to use it. It's in the loft. I haven't put a password over it, so feel free to get on."

Trisha jumped up with apparent excitement and started walking to the loft. "Trisha." I said, attracting her attention. Once I had it, I withdrew the hard drive from my jacket and tossed it to her. She took it and started up the stairs. Then Yusuf shouted, "Oh Trisha! Typhlosion and mienshao are taking naps up there! Please don't disturb them!"

After Trisha left, the scene got quiet. Yusuf again sipped his lemonade before turning his attention to me. "So what's happened to Orion?"

"He's been kidnapped by terrorists."

"Really?" Yusuf seemed genuinely interested, but another emotion played across his features. What was it? Happiness? No, it couldn't be."

"Yeah. In Castelia City this morning. That's why the attack took place."

"So why are you hanging out with my sis?"

"She's helping me decrypt some data that Orion gave me. We only got fifty percent decrypted in Nimbasa City before terrorists attacked us there. Then Trisha told me about you and your computer."

"Makes sense. So that hard drive holds the other fifty percent that needs decrypting?"

"You're correct."

"And what do you think you'll be able to accomplish with that information?"

"More than you. Why does Trisha say that you refuse to stop the terrorists?"

Yusuf sighed and sat further back onto the couch. "You wouldn't understand."

I set my lemonade glass on the coffee table. "Make me understand."

He sighed again. "You still won't understand. Nothing I say will make sense. Believe me. Not even I understand it much."

"Then why do you believe it?"

"Just because."

"Because? Who decides whether or not to protect innocent people from terrorists on a because?"

"Me obviously."

I growled. "First you refuse to recognize my name. now you throw riddles at me. Trisha was right. You are crazy."

"Do you know why I asked who you are?" I shook my head. "It's because there are so many people on this planet who don't know themselves or their own purposes in life. When I ask who you are, I don't want a name or a job. I want to know _who _you are. Who are you?"

I thought for a long while until I came up with an answer. "I don't know."

Yusuf took another sip of lemonade. "Until you know who you are, you won't be able to understand why I don't fight the terrorists."

I growled. "Fine. Then help me understand who I am."

Yusuf smiled and set his lemonade down on the table and stood up. "That's the first step. Come outside with me."

"For what purpose?"

"To have a pokemon battle of course. The best way to understand someone is to have a battle with them. So let's do that. A one on one battle. Your lucario versus my latios."

I stood up as well. "Fine. I'll take that challenge."

"Then let's go." With that, we exited the cottage and stepped out onto the grass where we were surrounded by forest. Yusuf snapped his fingers and a great swirl of wind resounded from the forest. A fast moving object of white and blue flew through the air, weaving around branches and vines, finally coming to a stop in front of Yusuf. To my shock, it _was _an actually latios. It angled its head, studying me with both eyes. To my disconcertment, the eyes of latios pierced me in the same way Yusuf's had. Yusuf walked alongside his latios and started scratching its white neck. "Welcome latios. Meet Malik and his lucario. They need help understanding who they are." Latios cried out a greeting to me.

Lucario, having unclothed, stepped in front of me with fangs bared and nodded a greeting to latios. Yusuf stepped back, letting latios take the stage. "Now then, let us begin."

1:42:57

1:42:58

1:42:59

1:43:00

"…once the next phase of operations is ready to move forward, we will conduct the next operation." The high commander said. His commanders either sat around the same table as their high commander or viewed the scene through video monitors. One of the video monitors held the image of naval commander Deiderich who raised a hand. "Excuse me high commander. How soon will the next phase move forward? What timeline are we looking at?"

"What we are looking at, naval commander, is for the next phase to take place in the next couple of hours. However, we have to care in these next few steps."

"How soon will the infiltrators be ready?"

"Professor Zenger is currently finishing up his new devices. The infiltrators will be ready for deployment in about twenty minutes. Only once they're in place can we move forward with secondary objectives."

Naval commander Deiderich smiled at the response, certainly happy at what it meant. The high commander looked around at the other commanders. "Any other questions?"

One of the commanders raised his hand. "Yes sir. What exactly are we trying to obtain from the prisoner we currently hold in the brig?"

The high commander smiled. "Only the piece of information that will bring about the end of the war. Once he has supplied it – and he will soon enough – then there will be nothing to stop us from ending this war today."

The other commander nodded while another commander raised his hand. "What about my side of the operation? My mercenaries have tens of thousands of clients in every city and town. Are we properly prepared for your plan high commander?"

"Yes. And you have done marvelously. With an army like that of your mercenaries permeating every quadrant of the Unova Region, half the job is done for the next operation. Just make sure that your mercenaries are in position for when the operation moves forward."

"They will be sir."

"Good. So unless there are any other questions, that sums up this meeting." No hands were raised. No questions were asked. "Excellent. You're dismissed."

The monitors switched off and each of the commanders stood up to leave the room. After the room was clear and the high commander was left alone, he held down a button on the table. "Send in Professor Zenger."

He released the button and waited. A couple of minutes later, the door opened and two soldiers dragged in Professor Zenger. Zenger's hands were shackled and they held onto a thick suitcase. The high commander waved his hands, dismissing the two soldiers. The two left, leaving Professor Zenger trembling in the middle of the room. The high commander gestured to the suitcase. "Are those the devices?"

Professor Zenger nodded. "Yes…yes."

"Good. Now set them on the table." Professor Zenger set the suitcase on the table and opened it up. Inside were twelve devices the size of two-way radios.

"They're…they're fully capable of casting convincing illusions around a subject. The illusions will mimic the person that they are programmed to mimic, plus the illusion field will cast far enough around the subject to make other objects adjust for the illusions."

"That's good. Are there any problems with them?"

"They're ineffective at maintaining the illusions in certain weather conditions. They won't work in sandstorms, blizzards, extreme heat, torrential rains, and possibly high winds. In any other conditions, they will work perfectly."

"And they maintain even when seen through TV screens?"

"That's correct sir. You have nothing to worry about."

The high commander nodded. "That's excellent."

"So…so we have an agreement? I can go home?"

"Oh, yes, that's right. We do have an agreement. You can go home." The high commander pulled a pistol from his holster and pointed it at Professor Zenger. The last look on the professor's face was complete shock. "But you promised that I can go home to your family. You promised."

"Yes I did." The high commander reached for the remote and turned on one of the monitors. The monitor displayed a newspaper article. A picture of two cars in a wreck dominated the front with a headline that read, "Four dead in two car pileup on highway." Professor Zenger's look of shock was paralyzed on his face as he read the newspaper. The high commander continued. "Unfortunately, three months ago, your family died in a tragic head on collision when a drunk driver drove out of his lane on a rainy night. None survived the crash. So you see, I'm actually sending you home to be with your family…in a roundabout way." The high commander pulled the trigger and the gun fired. Professor Zenger fell a second later with a bullet hole in his head.

The two soldiers rushed in at the sound of the gunshot. They stared in surprise at the corpse lying on the ground. The high commander smiled. "Ah, room service. Now that you two have arrived, you can take this carcass to the garbage disposal. And send in the infiltration squad to see me immediately."

The two soldiers quickly saluted and carried the corpse of Professor Zenger out of the room. After they left, a squad of twelve men marched in and saluted. The high commander returned the salute and ordered, "At ease. Listen up. These are the illusion devices that will allow you to complete your mission. Take them and train with them. You have fifteen minutes before I dispatch you to complete your mission."

"Yes sir!" All twelve replied in unison.

The high commander continued. "I'll be accompanying you personally to make sure you are implanted correctly."

"It will be an honor sir!" The leader of the squad replied for them all.

The high commander nodded. "Good. Dismissed." The twelve soldiers saluted again and marched out of the room in possession of the illusion devices.

The high commander sighed from satisfaction and sat back down in his seat behind the table. With a few taps on the computer, the high commander accessed a com channel to a private number located in Castelia City. The computer replied with electronic beeps, signaling that the number was being dialed. After the final beep, someone picked up and said, "He…hello?"

"Mr. Samuels. You know who this is."

"Yes. I know who this is."

"Good. By the way, I heard your TV interview. I found your speech most…exhilarating."

"Well, of course you did. You gave me the speech."

"Ah yes. I remember. How are things doing?"

"Things are doing fine."

"That's good. That's very good. I just wanted to call to make sure you're ready for the next phase in the operation."

"What do you want me to do this time?"

"Soon, more attacks are going to take place, and there will be nothing the police can do to stop them. After they occur, I want you to call all of your supporters for a march against the regional government headquarters in Castelia City. It will have to be a large demonstration of at least one hundred thousand so that the police can't stop your demonstration. Once you arrive at the steps of the regional government headquarters, you must deliver a speech to the masses."

"One I'm sure you'll prepare for me?"

"But of course. The regional government will bow to your wishes and establish martial law. They will take you in as the senior chairman who will oversee the operation of establishing martial law, and from there, we'll see what happens."

"And you're saying that all of this will happen? How do you know?"

"How does the composer know his own song?"

"Are you saying you have control of the regional government?"

"I have control of the populace, do I not? With them, I control the government. So in a way, I do control the government. Now listen, don't worry yourself ragged over anything. I will take care of everything. Just make sure that you are ready when the time is right. And don't forget, I do have others who will replace you should you fail."

"I…I won't fail you." The line went dead.

Dracous was beside himself with mirth. Soon, the giddiness bubbled over and he released many loud laughs. All of Unova was in the palm of his hand. Dracous laughed over and over again. Oh, Malik. If only you knew what was going on. You would see the light.

1:56:57

1:56:58

1:56:59

1:57:00

The old man kept pacing around the odd clock and compass device, checking his pocket watch. Something was about to happen, he knew it. Something had to happen. Until then, he kept pacing. His bare feet held the bruises and cuts of one who had been pacing nonstop for ages. Waiting. Always waiting.

With a great and loud grind of the gears, the arms of the clock turned. The weaving parts of the massive globe hovering above spun faster. Finally, the gears came to rest and the weaving parts ceased their movement. The old man stopped his pacing and looked up at the weaving parts. Interesting, he thought. The parts formed a picture. Very rarely had they done that. The picture depicted what appeared to be a man in a black cloak. That was interesting. He looked at his pocket watch. Who was this one? How did he figure into everything? He did not know.

The old man walked over to the bird pokemon sitting on the window sill. "We're about to have a visitor. That's god. We haven't had a visitor in a long time."

1:59:57

1:59:58

1:59:59

2:00:00


	11. Chapter 11

The following takes place between 2 P.M. and 3 P.M.

The girl started to paddle closer and closer to shore. After so long traveling, Driftveil Drawbridge lay in clear view ahead. From her observation point on the river, she could see cars and vehicles jam packed on the bridge. Taking her queue, the girl started rowing and veering the boat towards shore. A white sand beach welcomed her and she caught sight of the long rope tied to the trunk of an enormous pine tree that leaned slightly over the water. Steadying her course, the girl caught hold of the rope hanging from the tree and glided in the rest of the way. The prow of the boat struck the sand and eelektross jumped out to take up a guarding position on the shore. The girl also exited the craft, careful to keep holding onto the rope so that it didn't escape and swing out of reach over the water. With the rope, she tied it to the iron ring attached to the prow of the boat. When the knot was securely fastened, she started to drag the boat onto shore. Her tennis shoes dug into the sand, causing the granules of rock to slide freely into her shoes, which caused even more irritation. The boat offered more and more resistance to her pulls, but still slid through the sand. Once the boat was far enough on land, the girl fetched two medium sized rocks to wedge under the boat to keep it from sliding back into the river. Not that it mattered much, she thought as she did it. I probably won't be traveling by boat again for a very long time. Satisfied that the job was done, she withdrew eelektross back into its pokeball and started walking into the forest.

Upon entry into the dim lands of the forest where the light from above was severely filtered, her ears caught the sounds of a battle nearby. It sounded like a fierce one between two pokemon in the forest. That's weird, she thought to herself. The sounds are coming from my friend's house. With renewed interest, she started walking in that direction. The sounds started to get louder and louder with every step she took towards them. A loud explosion rocked the forest, shook leaves out of trees, and caused the solid ground to shiver under her feet. What the #!*% was going on? Starting to get worried, the girl decided to run the rest of the way. A second explosion rocked the forest around her. Now she could see smoke and dust from the explosion that just took place. The dust swirled through the forest on the invisible wings of the wind. The girl closed her eyes and mouth so as to not intake any of the dust. Just then, an out of place root un-expectantly caught her right foot. Her ankle started to twist in an unnatural way. She cried out and fell to the ground, but the noise was drowned out by another explosion from ahead. With her whole body on the ground, she could feel the shivers run through the surface and into her body. Another explosion occurred and it felt like a sledge hammer had hit her heart.

She struggled to get up, careful to keep weight off her injured ankle. With a limp in her gait, she walked slowly through the forest towards the site of the battle. Now she could see that the battle was taking place in a clearing. She reached an overshadowing tree on the edge of the clearing and peeked around. Two trainers stood on either side of the clearing, with two pokemon locked in an epic battle struggling between them. One of the trainers looked to be about twenty years of age and wore jeans, t-shirt, coat, a beret, and had a messenger bag at his side. The other trainer looked simpler, with t-shirt, jeans, and tennis shoes. But the two battling pokemon held her interest. One was bird like, with streamlined wings and forearms. White and blue dominated its body, although, it held a curious looking red hollow triangle on its forehead. This pokemon tussled with a pokemon the girl had never seen before. It looked like a jackal that stood on two feet. Black and blue were its colors, but its torso was a bleached yellow. Spikes protruded from its chest and paws, and four black…things were attached to its head. Cool, thought the girl.

Both pokemon jumped away from each other and awaited commands. Not missing a beat, the trainer wearing the beret shouted, "Lucario, use shadow ball!" The jackal like pokemon bared its fangs and held back its paws. Between its paws, a dark black and purple blob started to form. Little sparks of purple started to crackle around the orb. Once fully formed, the pokemon – lucario – hurled it at the other pokemon. Also not missing a beat, the simpler trainer shouted, "Latios, dodge it!" The bird-like pokemon – latios – jumped into the air. Suddenly, lucario formed an orb of bright blue and silver that crackled with energy that looked almost alive. Lucario hurled this orb as well at latios. Latios dodged to the side, but then the sphere switched direction at the last seconds and struck latios on its unprotected side. The girl's jaw dropped in amazement. The move couldn't be dodged.

Latios fell to the ground only to catch itself in midair a yard off the ground. Unfortunately, the lucario was charging with another shadow ball between its paws. The girl looked over at the lucario's trainer. Why had he never given a command? Was the lucario just doing what it wanted to? The lucario threw the shadow ball, but the latios naturally dodged to the sky. "Latios," shouted its trainer. "Psychic!" The latios' eyes glowed and lucario stopped moving, and even started to lift up and hover in the air.

Now lucario's trainer reacted. "Lucario, you too use psychic!" Lucario's eyes glowed and latios suddenly became rigid in midair. The two pokemon started to fly up into the air until they were level with the tallest trees in the area. And then…nothing. The girl gazed up at the two hovering pokemon. Nothing was happening. There trainers weren't doing anything either. They too were just looking up at their pokemon with interest in their eyes. Then it dawned on the girl: both pokemon were using psychic on each other. Instead of deflecting the other pokemon's attack, they were in the midst of a mental battle. Each one was trying to gain an advantage over the other. Over a minute ticked slowly by.

The girl yawned when suddenly, lucario's trainer yelled, "Ha!" The next second, latios came hurtling down to the earth and struck the ground with a mighty thump. The lucario also started to fall, but more steadily. Between its paws, shadow ball after shadow ball was produced and hurled down upon the grounded latios. Latios looked exhausted and couldn't move. Each shadow ball struck its target, creating more explosions and surrounding latios in a shroud of dust.

Lucario settled down to the earth outside of the smoke cloud, kneeled down, closed its eyes, and its black things rose up. It kept kneeling there until the last of the dust had been blown away by the steady wind. Latios still lay on the ground. Its whole body moved as its lungs heaved to grasp at the clean air. Lucario opened its eyes and stood up, and even the black things lowered. Latios' trainer started clapping. "Well done. I'm surprised. How did you come up with the winning strategy?"

Lucario's trainer smiled at the compliment. "I noticed that throughout the battle, latios always dodged upwards, never to the sides. Your latios could have won by default just by staying topside. But once I got lucario topside, your latios was beaten."

Latios' trainer started walking forward to check on his pokemon. "But what about entering lucario into a psychic conflict? How did you know that lucario would win over a legendary pokemon in a battle of the minds?"

The other trainer shrugged. "I didn't. But I've known lucario for a very long time. I knew he would put his all into it."

"Amazing. So tell me, do you know who you are now?"

Lucario's trainer growled. "Aren't you the one who was supposed to figure that out from this battle?"

Latios' trainer shook his head. "No. Pokemon battle don't just help you learn about others, but about yourself. I learned some things about you, but only you can learn who you are."

"Look! I already know who I am."

"Do you?"

"Yeah. I don't have an identity crisis or anything."

"Then who are you?"

"My name's Malik! Don't you get it?"

"I just watched you rip apart a legendary pokemon that I've personally trained in a one on one battle. I know you are more than just a name. Who are you?"

The trainer – Malik – growled. "My name's Malik. My partner of fifteen years is lucario." Then he suddenly started to yell out, "I'm the last assassin in existence! Every other assassin in the world is dead and I'm after the people who did it!"

The other trainer nodded slowly. "You're getting close. Who are you?"

Silence filled the clearing like a thick fog. It grew so annoying; the girl started wishing for someone to speak or make noise just to break the silence that gripped the world. Finally, Malik spoke. It was almost too quiet for anyone to hear it. "You ask for who I am. You want more than a name or a title or a job. You want my identity. You want who I am." The other trainer nodded. Malik continued: "I think I have the answer. This is who I am: I'm one of the few aura guardians left in existence today."

The other trainer started to laugh. "Ha ha ha! Finally! You finally know who you are!"

Malik sighed. "Thank you Yusuf for helping me know what I already knew. So now can you tell me why you won't fight the terrorists?"

The other trainer – Yusuf – struggled to contain his laughs. "Ha ha ha. Yeah. Soon. But first, we need to rest."

At this moment, the girl decided it was the best time to come out of hiding, still careful to keep weight off of her injured foot, she walked out into the clearing in full view of everyone. Yusuf looked at her with a look of surprise on his face. "Sapphira? Is that you?" Malik just looked with a calm expression, as though he knew all along that she was coming.

"Yes, it's me Yusuf."

"I didn't realize you were here."

"Well, he did." Sapphira said, pointing at Malik.

Malik nodded. "Yeah. Lucario saw you and told me. You two know each other?"

Yusuf nodded. "Yeah. It's a story best told once we're inside." Then Yusuf saw Sapphira's bad ankle. "What happened to your ankle?"

"I tripped in the woods on the way here."

Malik started rushing to Sapphira. "Lucario says the ankle's fine now but needs ice and immediate attention."

Now Sapphira was totally confused. How did Malik hear lucario say something nobody else heard? Yusuf also joined Malik. "Agreed. Let's carry her back to the house."

Suddenly, a rustle of bushes and foliage alerted them all to the presence of someone else. A young woman with a laptop in her hands rushed into the clearing. Malik looked at her with a spark of recognition on his face. "Trisha. What is it?"

Trisha seemed out of breath and struggled to get words out. "I…I just decrypted (cough) the last of the data." Then she saw Sapphira. "Who's she?"

Yusuf opened his mouth as if to say something until Malik interrupted. "Let's all go inside right now. Yusuf can tend to this girl's ankle while I look at that decrypted data. And then we can get to story time." Everybody agreed. Yusuf and Malik locked arms and formed a human "chair" with which they hefted Sapphira and started to carry her back to the cottage with Trisha trailing behind, tapping on her computer.

2:14:57

2:14:58

2:14:59

2:15:00

The massive cargo chopper flew through the air on its way towards the city of Castelia. The massive spires and skyscrapers stabbed up into the clear blue sky like a thicket of spears. The pilots of the helicopter held a perfect view of the entire city below. The highways running north and east from the city were filled with cars and other vehicles taking part in the mass evacuation. Not a single large boat filled the harbor. Only police boats with flashing lights occupied the waters. More than ten miles offshore, massive cargo freighters bobbed slowly up and down in the waters as police inspected them for suspected terrorist bombs or whatnot. Overall, the entire city looked similar to a ghost town. Very few cars drove on the city streets. Windows were closed, shades were drawn, and doors tightly shut. No one dared venture out alone. These were the days of being afraid.

On the com channel, a cop working in Air Traffic Control over Castelia contacted the cargo chopper. "Unidentified aircraft please identify yourself."

With calm and coolness on his features, one of the pilots accessed the com channel and replied: "Air traffic Control, this is chopper 11-70. We're scheduled on the manifest for landing at government headquarters at 1415 hours."

Silence filled the com channel. The other pilot in the chopper bit his lip with obvious worry. There was only a chance and not a one hundred percent guarantee that this would work. Finally, a reply came back over the com channel. "Chopper 11-70, we have you on the manifest for landing at government headquarters at 1415 hours. Sorry for the misunderstanding. We have two police choppers en route to escort you to headquarters."

Both pilots allowed themselves sighs of relief before one replied, "Roger that Air Traffic Control. We appreciate the escort. Chopper 11-70, out."

"Air Traffic Control out."

The cargo chopper entered official Castelia Airspace. Two smaller police helicopters flew in from the side and took up escort positions on either side of the chopper. Pilots in each cockpit waved greetings while their craft flew further into the city. Shorter buildings of the suburbs gave way to the taller skyscrapers of the center of the city. A cloud of smoke still rose from a gap in the forest of towers where the Hewitt Building once stood. Firefighters, first responders, and their pokemon still crawled all over the place.

The helicopters veered south and headed straight to the water. There, a massive building resembling a giant rectangle cube rose out of a pier built specifically for it. A six lane highway along the waterfront separated it from the rest of the city. Parking lots, both outside and in garages, along with yards of grass surrounded the base of the building. The helicopters rose higher and higher before descending slightly to the top of the building. Multiple helipads, surrounded by cops, guard pokemon, and other security systems, covered the roof. The escort choppers stopped short of the building, allowing the cargo chopper to continue in its descent towards the helipads. A single man with glowing red sticks directed the helicopter down. The massive craft slowly glided down until the three wheels of the landing gear beneath touched down on the surface of steel and reinforced concrete. The twin rotors above slowed until finally coming to a stop, allowing the massive weight of the chopper to fully settle atop the landing gear.

Two cops on security duty rushed forward to open one of the side doors. The door slid easily open, revealing thirteen persons within. All thirteen stepped out where security guards checked each of their passes and herdiers sniffed their bags for suspicious items. When each had passed through security, another cop directed them to the stairway that would take them off the rooftop. The thirteen individuals walked down the stairs where they found themselves on the thirty-ninth floor. From there, they walked to the closest elevator and crowded in. One man pushed the button for the twentieth floor. The man in the middle towered a whole head and shoulders over everyone else. He smirked once the elevator began its descent. "Gentlemen, we are about to make history." The other twelve men nodded their agreement.

The elevator reached the twentieth floor and the double doors opened. From there, they walked en masse to what appeared to be a large conference room. Two cops standing in front of the doors leading to the conference room snapped to attention. Their eyes met the face of the tall man leading the group and they widened. One of them started stuttering, "Hi…high commander. We…we didn't realize that you were coming…in person."

The high commander smirked. "Is everything prepared?"

"Yes sir. We established multiple loops over each of the cameras. The people in the security center won't realize anything amiss."

"What about getting people out?"

"We've prepared it so that people can be smuggled out through the escape elevator. Once at the bottom, we have allies waiting to receive them and carry them away. The sensors will be fooled at all times. No one will know that anyone is in the escape elevator."

"Excellent. Well now, shall we begin?"

The two cops nodded and opened the double doors leading to the conference room. Ten individuals seated around two tables that formed a broken hollow circle were in the midst of an animated discussion. Delegates were on their feet, shouting at each other

Delegate one: "We've already raised the threat level to maximum and called in every cop and soldier to help quell this threat, but still the terrorists continue to strike at the populace."

Delegate two: "What more do you want us to do?"

Delegate one: "It has to be someone's fault that we're in this predicament."

Delegate three: "Now wait just a minute before you start pointing fingers at anyone. These terrorist attacks caught us completely unprepared. We have no defenses with which to deal with them."

Delegate four: "And what exactly do you mean by that my fellow delegate? We had no defenses? They caught us unprepared? We had two months of warning when people started dropping dead to prepare. But we did nothing."

Delegate three: "Excuse me, but if I recall, it was your department that refused to do anything when people started dropping dead. Who's to blame now?"

Delegate five: "No one is blaming anyone in this room…"

Delegate four, obviously angry at delegate three's comment, sprung into action with a retort that cut off delegate five's attempt at stopping the argument. "What about you? If I recall, it was you who, several months before the first attacks, pushed forward a bill that cut defense spending. You left the door wide open for these terrorists to attack."

High commander: "A fact that I congratulate you for. Otherwise, none of this would be possible."

Every delegate in the room stopped taking and looked at the crowd of men who had just entered the room. The two cops had already closed the double doors to the conference room, now leaving all twenty-three of them alone. The high commander's companions started walking around the delegates until they surrounded the delegates. Walking with confidence in every step, the high commander entered the hollow of the circle and stood proudly in the midst of the delegates. Delegate one decided to speak up first. "What is the meaning of this intrusion? I should have you reported and arrested for disturbing us."

The high commander swung his arm and a hidden knife flew out from under his sleeve and embedded itself into the wood of the table in front of delegate one. Every delegate gasped as one and delegate one stared at the knife blade that lay embedded next to his right hand. It had landed so close; he could feel the cold metal of the blade against his skin. The high commander spoke with a voice as cold as bottom of the ocean. "If you have any wisdom in that over inflated head of yours, you would keep quiet. That goes for all of you. Now sit down." Like lectured children, every delegate sat down with quiet obedience. The high commander continued. "My name is Dracous. I am the leader of the freedom fighters, those who you call terrorists." At this comment, every delegate was back on their feet shouting protests. Each one tried the alarm button located at their table, but nothing happened. One even tried to run for the door, but it was locked shut. The high commander once again took control. He swung both arms, revealing knives between his fingers. "Quiet!" Everybody settled and returned to their seats.

"Now, as I've made clear, I'm the leader of the terrorists."

"And I guess you're here to make your demands?" Delegate three said fiercely. "Well we won't comply. Justice will defeat you."

The high commander laughed. "Ha ha ha! What justice? You are a bunch of corrupt bureaucrats who deny exercising justice. Look out there. I have control over your lives and the lives of every person in the Unova Region. I've created a world that has led to the largest mass migration of people this world has ever seen. And you babble like frightened lillipups in a thunderstorm. I am the leader of Unova now. It is only a matter of time before the whole world recognizes that fact."

"You think after how many people you've killed that anyone will accept you as leader? You're mad."

"After today, everyone will accept me. What has happened these past six months and beyond has led to this day."

"So what? You'll kill us all?"

"Absolutely not. In fact, I need you to keep control of the people."

Each of the delegates started laughing. "You're crazy. We won't help you."

"No, you won't. But my companions will." Upon hearing the signal, ten of the twelve men around the room pressed buttons on devices attached to the fronts of their uniforms. The air around them seemed to shimmer until new shapes started to take place. Some of the men seemed to grow shorter, some taller. Others went through weight changes, growing fatter or skinnier depending on the subject of their impersonation. They adopted new faces, new clothes, and new bodies. Once the transformation was complete, the high commander found himself looking at ten perfect copies of the ten delegates already in the room. Against the wishes of Dracous, some of the delegates rose from their chairs in shock at what had just happened in front of their eyes. Delegate one seemed aghast. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Illusions delegates. These are nothing but illusions specifically crafted to impersonate you. Look well at them. You will find that in every way, they look exactly like you."

"But you still can't kill us. You said you needed us."

"Oh, that's right. But then again, if one has perfect copies, who needs the originals. Squad, dispose of them."

Upon command, each of the copy delegates pulled a strange weapon from their uniforms hidden under the illusions and fired at the delegates. Each weapon fired poisoned darts which flew through the air and impaled themselves sin the necks of each of the delegates. The delegates took each hit with screams of shock that almost immediately died away. Delegate one pulled a dart from his neck and looked at Dracous. With a voice barely louder than a whisper, he asked, "What…what have you done?"

"I wouldn't try to speak if I were you. Those darts were loaded with a special poison. If fired at the neck, it works almost immediately to paralyze vocal cords so that the victim cannot scream out. Next, the poison works its way to the heart, where it travels along the arteries like on a highway. At each organ, it works slowly to shut them down, thus killing you. But don't worry, you won't feel a thing. The poison should be putting you all in a coma in…" Dracous looked at a timekeeper on his hand. "three…two…one…now." Each of the delegates dropped unconscious on their tables.

Turning to the rest of the squad, the high commander ordered, "Clean them up. We need everything ready for when the next phase of the operation moves forward." Everyone in the squad worked to move each of the corpses to the escape elevator. Once every corpse was down the shaft, the high commander exited out the double doors with the last two agents. Once outside, "You each know your missions. Carry them out when the times are right." Both nodded and left to carry out their missions. The high commander walked back up to the rooftop where the cargo chopper was warmed up for takeoff. After clearing security, Dracous loaded up on the chopper and the pilots took the craft into the air, where it flew swiftly to the west. In the hold, Dracous sighed. Taking an intercom, he contacted naval commander Deiderich. The naval commander immediately responded. "Yes sir?"

"Agents are in place. Ready for the next phase of the operation?"

"Yes sir. I've contacted our allies throughout the region. All units report green to go."

"Excellent. Next phase moving forward in an hour. Alert all units."

"Yes sir. All stations battle ready."

"High commander out."

"Naval commander out."

2:32:57

2:32:58

2:32:59

2:33:00

I leaned over Trisha's shoulder to study the data that she scrolled through on the computer. Since arriving at the cottage, Sapphira had been laid on the couch with a bag of ice on her ankle. Yusuf was currently taking care of her. Meanwhile, I and Trisha had retreated to the other couch to look at the data she had decrypted. Yusuf looked up from his work caring for Sapphira's ankle to ask, "So what is all that data?"

Without looking away from the screen, I replied, "This is the data Orion has gathered about the terrorists for the past six months. He's given it to me to study. Maybe I'll find something relevant to the terrorists' defeat."

"And have you?"

"I have discovered new things, but nothing of immediate relevance. And some of the information has been very confusing."

"Like what?"

"Well, Orion's included a timeline…"

"…which by the way has updated with the new decrypted information." interrupted Trisha.

"…that says the first terrorist activity was ten months ago."

Yusuf adopted a curious look. "Interesting. What does he say happened?"

"Some scientist traveled to a distant region to study with other scientists."

"Who?"

"Professor Zenger. Some hot shot in physics."

Yusuf's expression changed in a blink of an eye from curious to almost excited. "The Professor Zenger?"

"You know him?"

"Who doesn't? He's not just some hot shot in physics. He's the best. He's also near the top of the list in human psychology."

"In other words, a really good scientist. How do you know him?"

"I actually met him once. He was holding a convention in Striaton City for trainers. Apparently, it was part of some big study on trainers, pokemon, and their psychologies."

"Sounds boring."

"It was somewhat. But it was certainly interesting. Interesting enough for me to visit the convention and offer my services. He was totally cool about it, had a way with trainers like me that automatically made me trust him. And after watching me battle, he had me and my pokemon figured out."

"Is that when you got interested in figuring out people's identities?"

"No. But it proves useful. You're an assassin, right?" I nodded. "I figure any assassin has to be able to get into their opponent's head so as to conduct the battle more efficiently. So in a way, you and Professor Zenger are very similar."

"Very true. So what did he figure out about you?"

Yusuf grinned. "He figured I had a very cautious mentality. I don't like moving forward with anything. But when I find an opportunity, I move forward and rashly." He laughed a bit. "We barely shared a handful of words in conversation prior to the battle. But after the battle, he had me figured out."

Cool. I guess I and Professor Zenger did have a lot in common. "So why do you think Orion would think that Professor Zenger has anything with the terrorists?"

Yusuf shrugged. "I don't know."

"Did you do anything of any significance that could attract the attention of the terrorists?"

Yusuf thought about that for a while. "Well, he wrote a famous thesis and book about the pokemon zoroark and its ability to cast illusions."

I broke eye contact with the computer screen to look at Yusuf. "What kind of book?"

He stood and walked to one of the book cases and immediately found a thick green book as if by memory. "It's mostly a study about zoroark; it's capability to cast illusions, and a lot of theories at the end."

"What kind of theories?"

"Really interesting ones. He thinks that it is possible for humans to create devices that can both detect illusions and create illusions that can hide people."

Trisha looked up. My face changed to one of shock. "What?" we both said.

Yusuf looked confused. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No." I replied. "It's just that I and Orion met this morning in Castelia City with our zoroarks hiding us with illusions and the terrorists still found us. They must have had illusion-detecting devices. Now I'm thinking that they created one of Professor Zenger's theory devices."

Yusuf gazed up at the ceiling in wonderment. "Wow. That's amazing."

"No it isn't. It looks like Professor Zenger has been helping the terrorists all along. He's responsible for why Orion was kidnapped…" I stopped when I saw Trisha' sullen look. Wishing for a change in conversation, I looked back at the computer screen. "Bring up the updated timeline for me please." With a few clicks, Trisha brought up the new timeline. It had indeed updated. The first recorded event was still ten months ago about Professor Zenger, but new events filled the gap between it and six months ago when the killings of former assassins took place. "What I find weird is that Orion knew of Professor Zenger and didn't tell me."

"Maybe he thought that they wouldn't be able to develop the technology. In the Professor's book, it is only a theory."

"Maybe. Hey Trisha, click on that event there." I pointed at an vent that took place nine months ago. It was the first event on the timeline after Professor Zenger. Trisha clicked it and brought up file after file of data. I slowly studied the data with a steady gaze.

Yusuf got interested again. "What's that now?"

"Just a lot of jargon about the different regions. All this proves is that the terrorists were well informed as to when, where, and how to attack."

Sapphira lying on the couch raised her head a bit, possibly trying to sit at the same level as everyone else in the conversation. "Hold on. Are you all researching the terrorists?"

"They are." Replied Yusuf, referring to us.

I nodded in assent. "Yes. This is information a friend of mine gave me to research. He's been fighting the terrorists for a long time. This is all research he's gathered."

"Cool. You know, on the way here, I met these fishermen who are doing stuff to fight the terrorists."

That got my interest. "What do you mean? What were they doing?"

"They said they were part of some political movement of the people to replace the present government with martial law."

"What?" I and Trisha said at the same time. Yusuf didn't react and just stared at the ground.

Sapphira kind of looked confused at our reaction. "You didn't know about the political movement? News of it has been getting bigger lately."

"I've been out of the country." I replied.

Trisha started looking embarrassed. "And…um…I've been focused on…on my studies. That's right. I've been focused on my studies."

Sapphira giggled when she saw Trisha's deception. "Must have been some important classes if you didn't even notice what was going on in the political realm."

Trisha smiled nervously. "So…so what's this political movement of the people?"

I noticed that Yusuf kept his eyes glued to the ground. "You know of it, don't you Yusuf?"

"Well yes. I'm not completely separated from the rest of the world. I check in every now and again to see what's happening."

"So what's the political movement?"

"It's a movement of the people that started a while ago. A man named John Samuels started the movement, calling for the people to rally together to force the government to enact more aggressive measures to stop the terrorist attacks."

"What kind of person is this John Samuels?"

"A political activist. No mysterious connections and no criminal record. But he's greatly outspoken against those who disagree with him."

"I see. So what has he been doing lately?"

"Just gaining more supporters. This morning's attacks haven't helped anything. I hear he gained a lot more supporters soon after the event in Castelia City. They want the government to establish martial law so as to stop the terrorists."

"And people are serious about this?"

"Apparently. Anyway, that's what's been going on lately in the political realm."

"And what is the latest news?"

"Well, I'm concerned that the political movement will gain a lot more strength today than any other day. It's possible they could make their move on the government."

"Like more attacks from a different foe?"

"Not likely. They're civilized. They'll only demonstrate and protest in the streets. But that may cause even more problems than the terrorists."

I grimaced. "I find that very hard to believe."

"What do you mean?"

"I think that the terrorists are about to launch a new offensive today."

"Bigger attacks?"

"I don't think so. I've theorized that it could be some sort of 'end-game' strategy."

"And what makes you think that?"

"Just…just other contacts I have." I didn't feel like telling Yusuf that I had the former champion of Hoenn working for me. He didn't need to know right now. Turing back to Trisha's work at the computer, I said, "Check that file on the timeline." I said, pointing. The file opened at Trisha's click. The documents within held information on an architect named George Presley along with digital copies of his work. One caught my eye: Tubeline Bridge. "Curious. Orion's included information on the architect of Tubeline Bridge."

"Why do you think he did that?" asked Trisha.

"I really don't know. George died of natural causes four and a half years ago. He left a will that entrusted everything of his to his son, Arnold Presley. Also nothing suspicious." I growled from agitation. "Ugh. Why all of this useless information Orion? You could write a history book of Unova from all of the information you've included." Suddenly, like the light bulb going off at the flip of a switch, I realized something. "Trisha, What if these terrorists have connections with famous people in unova history. We've seen them to have connections with Professor Zenger, so let's see who else."

"What do you want me to do?" Trisha asked, curious.

"Conduct cross references between the famous people of Unova and the characters Orion has listed in the first four months of the timeline." Trisha began clicking around on the computer to cross reference the names. Results soon came pouring back.

"Only twelve came back positive. Every name on this timeline has done something special in Unova history. Professor Zenger won the Omega prize for physics. George Presley constructed Tubeline Bridge. And there are other names. Here's the list."

I looked and studied the list on the screen. Given that all of the people were from Unova, no names stood out. There was Professor Zenger, George Presley, and others I didn't recognize. Seth Sniver, the former mayor of Castelia City. Lisa Connelly, current police commissioner of Oppelucid City. Ho Jim, project organizer of Marvelous Bridge. Don Wiser, current mayor of Accumula Town. Walt Sherman, head judge of the court of Black City and White Forest. Virginia Chester, top environmentalist from Driftveil City. Nothing looked to connect.

Trisha was also looking at the list with interest. "Hmm. I guess Orion didn't have time to update this list."

I looked her with curiosity on my face. "What do you mean?"

"Well, look. Lisa Connelly is now the former commissioner. She died this morning in the explosion at the Oppelucid City train station."

"Really?"

"Yeah. She did a lot of all-nighters I hear. Apparently, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Shame too. She was one of Oppelucid City's best." I thought for a while. Trisha continued. "You know, why didn't Orion tell you any of this?"

"He thought we'd have plenty of time to look it over later."

Trisha sighed and lay into the couch cushions. "I wish you two did have time. This is confusing. Why would Orion include a list of people, most of whom are dead anyway."

That caught my attention. I looked at Trisha lying on the cushions. "What do you mean, most of them are dead?"

"Well, most of them are. George Presley died four and a half years ago. Seth Sniver is former mayor because he retired and then went out drinking one night and then died. Jumped off a building, can you believe it? And then there's Ho Jim, the famous bridge architect. He saw Marvelous Bridge as his last great project before he died and singlehandedly designed the whole thing, but died before he could see the bridge completed. They're making a documentary about him right now. It's supposed to come out in theatres on Marvelous Bridge's tenth anniversary. Don Wiser, Walt Sherman, and Virginia Chester are still alive and active in their fields. The rest of the people on this list are dead from a wide assortment of causes. Veronica Taylor died in a tragic diving accident in Undella Bay looking for treasure. Jameson Francis committed suicide by jumping off of Skyarrow Bridge and drowning in the river. Harry Langley died of natural causes and passed away in the Icirrus City Hospital. And Britt Harrison died tragically in a shooting that took place in Shopping Mall 9."

While Trisha listed the people and causes of death, I studied much of the same information on the timeline. Nothing interesting popped out at me. I rubbed my temples and sat back to think. Everything seemed jumbled up and out of order. Where was the connection? What was so important about these people that Orion would put their names and information in this timeline? The light bulb I thought I had was now burned out. No ideas were coming to mind. "We need something fresh. I need new information." My eyes locked on Yusuf sitting on the opposite couch. "You have information that I need."

He nodded. "Yes. But it might not do you any good."

"Doesn't matter. It's something, and right now, any information is good enough for me."

Yusuf sighed. "Fine. I'll tell you. There are ruins of an ancient castle sitting atop a mountain west of Driftveil City. The mountain is almost always snow covered and there's a village at the base of it. On a clear night, you can see a single red light from shining from the top window of the castle from the village below, and the people speak of evil spirits. People talk of a mysterious forcefield that surrounds the castle and keeps people from entering, but somehow, I did. I learned later that it was because I knew who I was. There in the castle, I was told how and why I shouldn't interfere with current events."

"Told by whom?"

"That, I can't tell you. I don't know what you'll be told, or even if it will help you. But that's all I can tell you."

"Okay. I'm leaving now." I stood up to leave.

Yusuf also stood up. "Take latios. He knows the place and can carry you the whole way quickly and with ease. He can carry lucario also."

I thought for a moment. It sounded good, so I nodded. Yusuf nodded, smiled, and walked upstairs to fetch latios from his nap. I looked down at Sapphira lying on the couch with the pack of ice on her ankle. "So how are you and Yusuf connected?"

She giggled at what that question might have implied. "Well, we're not boyfriend and girlfriend if you were thinking that." For some reason, Trisha sighed. Sapphira continued. "We're just friends. I met him in Icirrus City while he was staying to beat the gym there. Icirrus City is where I live."

"Where are your parents?"

Sapphira's after-giggle smile was replaced with a frown. "They died. Yusuf was kind enough to offer me lodging at a proper home until things got worked out for me. I'm still a minor."

"I see. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I've accepted it. And Yusuf is very kind. Almost unusually kind."

Before I could ask another question, Yusuf walked down the stairs with latios in tow. "Okay. Latios is ready to fly. You'd best get going."

"How long will it take for us to get there?"

"Only ten minutes. But how long you stay there, I can't tell."

"Okay." I turned to Trisha. "I'll be back soon. Keep checking that information for any possible clues."

Trisha nodded. "Anything to find Orion."

With lucario and latios behind me, I walked out the door. Once outside, I and lucario hopped onto latios' back. Despite the load that was more than half its own weight, latios lifted up quite easily, and we found ourselves flying through the air towards the mountains beyond Driftveil City.

2:57:57

2:57:58

2:57:59

2:58:00

An odd vibration from his left pocket alerted Agent 5 to his phone. He pulled it out and checked the message on the screen. "Agents in place. Attack at 1530 hours." Agent 5 deposited the phone back into his pocket without fear of anyone actually seeing the message. The high commander held control of public communications, or so it was said. Most of the things about the high commander were rumors. Some said, he had control of public communications, others said he owned and monopolized public transportations, or he was the most feared image in the worst nightmares of crime lords, even that he was a hunter of legendary pokemon. From that point forward, the rumors only got crazier and crazier. But all agent 5 needed to know was that he had no fear of anyone intercepting private communiqué between terrorist sleeper cells.

Here, in the middle of Black City, in what was known as the greatest battle hall in all the world, Agent 5 waited. He didn't know if it was truly the greatest, but it was certainly the biggest. It included multiple other centers other than a battle hall for trainers. Restaurants of all kinds of venues, the second largest shopping mall in the world, a marketplace for meetings between merchants, a bookstore, and even an advanced school for trainers accompanied the battle hall in this massive city. Train rails stretching across the entire city joined together in the central train plaza many floors below. Atop the trains, a central hub for buses transporting trainers to and from the battle hall also connected the city's bus routes. Two train rails and two bus routes from the battle hall were specifically reserved for transporting trainers to and from the nearby airport. It was usual to hear the roar of airplanes overhead, only drowned out by the din of battle within the massive steel and reinforced concrete structure. Despite the multiple terrorist attacks, people still flocked to the battle hall. As if nothing had changed, battles still took place every day. Construction on a new wing to the hall still continued. Obviously, people felt safer here surrounded by powerful trainers than anywhere else. Fools, thought Agent 5. Nowhere is safe.

Agent 5 marched past two security guards acting like a common citizen. With the attack taking place soon, the delivery would have to be made almost immediately. Agent 5 walked to the men's locker rooms that were provided for trainers and swimmers. Oh yeah, there were also Olympic sized swimming pools and whole wings of the building devoted to the different sports in existence. With an air of confidence about him, as though he were a new trainer in the place, Agent 5 walked over to the rooms with the largest lockers. Each was big enough to fit two grown men with room to spare. Only a few trainers and pokemon occupied the room. None of them paid any heed to the arrival of the terrorist. That's right; Agent 5 mentally told the trainers and pokemon. Just keep focused on your own business and this will all be done soon. Arriving at locker 262, Agent 5 took a key from his pocket and unlocked the metal door. It swung open easily on greased hinges with nary a squeak. Inside, Agent 5's eyes caught sight of the suitcase. It was too large to be a simple businessman's, but perfect for the agent's mission. He picked it out and closed the locker, locking it with the key. With that same air of confidence, this now started to come from pride more than anything, Agent 5 departed. What an honor it was to be given this specific mission. It would change the Unova Region, and lead to changing the entire world.

2:59:57

2:59:58

2:59:59

3:00:00


	12. Chapter 12

The following takes place between 3 P.M. and 4 P.M.

Steven's eyes snapped open. Dosing again. After staying awake all night and surviving the morning only through the blessed miracle of coffee, Steven Stone found himself dropping into a quick half-sleep nap. Blasted sleepless night, Steven thought. Living in the middle of an international crisis would give anyone causes to stay up all night worrying. #!*% shame that that meant being dog tired the next day and having to repeat the cycle the next night. If the terrorists were trying to give people sleepless nights, they were certainly succeeding.

Steven looked up from where he was sitting in Castelia police HQ. Very little action was taking place. Two officers were both talking on phones while working at their computers. From across the room, Steven caught bits of the conversation, suggesting that these two were in charge of coordinating city patrols. There were rumors from up top of closing down the entire city indefinitely. The only reason it remained open was the swarms of people still desperately trying to escape.

Instead of sitting and possibly falling asleep, Steven stood up and walked out to stretch his legs. In the main lobby, yellow police tape marked off the scene of the murder of the mercenary informant. The crime photographers had come and gone, having taken their pictures of the scene. The building across the street from where the shots had originated was also closed off by police tape. Investigations were ongoing, but nothing conclusive had returned from the investigators. The terrorists had planned all too well.

Steven thought back to his chess game with the harbor bombing suspect in the brig before he died. This whole war on the terrorists was like a giant chess game. Unfortunately, it felt like Steven couldn't even see the opponent's chess pieces. All he could was react when the terrorists took out one of his pieces and just as quickly disappeared. Not a single terrorist attack had ever been stopped in the past six months. Well, except for the harbor bombing incident. And that was done by an assassin, a newcomer to Unova. How embarrassing. The cops fight these terrorists for six months and it takes an assassin about a week to stop a terrorist attack no one saw coming and even capture the suspect.

From the lobby, Steven walked outside police HQ. A cool breeze carrying the fragrance of the ocean greeted him to the outdoors. The street Steven found was completely vacant. All around, every window was closed and locked, with blinds or drapes drawn. A couple walked down the street away from Steven, casting nervous glances all around. It broke Steven's heart to see people this broken, this fearful, and this terrified. Where did the days of security go? The terrorists had changed everything. Where security once existed, now fear of death existed. Where safety once existed, now tears of helplessness were shed. Where people once stood resolute and united, now disunity and distrust existed.

Anger broiled inside Steven's heart. Anger at the terrorists, at the mercenaries, even at the police for their ineffectiveness. Something had to be done. The best two chances that ever existed were handed to the police on silver platters and they were dead. Now, it was like the cops had thrown in the towel and had given up. Something had to be done. This was a war, and wars weren't fought by contenting with defending one's own borders. You had to strike back, get on the offensive. You had to be like Orion or Malik, who were actually doing something. Orion was out of commission and Malik was all that was left. Not anymore. He has me to help him, thought Steven. I will take the fight to the terrorists. I will do what the police are incapable of doing.

Steven started walking down the sidewalk, reaching in his pocket for his phone. He knew he wouldn't be able to do this alone. This would require assistance. Thankfully, the only other friend Steven had in Unova was in Castelia City. At least, he hoped so. After he found his phone, he started dialing a number while walking. A person walking on the sidewalk in the opposite direction bumped shoulders with him. Steven looked up to see a young man in a hooded sweater and pants with a pair of ear buds in his ears walk by with downcast eyes. The man mumbled an apology over his shoulder and kept walking.

After checking his pockets to make sure he wasn't robbed, Steven finished dialing the number. The phone started to beep while it contacted the number. In his mind, Steven kept repeating, "Pick up, pick up, pick up…" Finally, there was a click and the sound of someone saying, "Yes. This is the world-famous magician, Ray Lively, at your service. Is this really the famous Steven Stone?"

Steven sighed from relief. "Yes Ray, it's me."

A rolling laugh filled the com link. "Ha ha ha! That's awesome! So what can I do for you, O great one?"

"For one, you can stop the sarcasm. For another, tell me where you are right now. You still in Castelia?"

"No sir. I've hit the road. Skipped town. Vamoosed. Skedaddled…"

"Yes, yes, yes, I get the picture."

"But all this darn traffic, I'm actually still inside the city. Almost on Skyarrow Bridge."

"Great. I need to call in a favor.'

"What kind of favor?"

"Something fun. When was the last time we had some fun?"

"An eternity."

"No it hasn't. But that's not important. You need to meet me right now. Get off the highway and head my way."

"Well, okay. But what are we doing?"

"You'll see. Meet me in Western Harbor District as soon as you can."

"Um, okay. Give me fifteen minutes to get there."

"Great. See you there." With that, Steven shut down the call. His feet started to carry him to the nearby parking garage where his car was parked. Ideas and thoughts rolled through his mind like trains. Oh yeah, thought Steven. Malik isn't alone. I too will fight these terrorists.

3:5:47

Agent Alpha Dog, or agent Alpha for short, walked into police HQ. After bumping with the former champion of Hoenn outside and watching him walk away to the parking garage, he felt his hopes rise tremendously. He pulled out to the music player from his pocket and tapped some of the buttons. Unbeknownst to everyone, the music player was a transmitter for transmitting text status reports. Today's status: green.

He walked up to the lobby desk where a single officer was working on paperwork. The officer, a woman in her late forties it looked, glanced up at the stranger from her paperwork. "What can I do for you?"

Agent Alpha pulled the ear buds out of his ears, lowered his hood, pulled a smile since that always worked, and pulled some folded pieces of paper out of his pocket. "I have a meeting with the police chief today. Here's the paperwork I have proving the meeting." He placed the paperwork on the counter for the police woman to study.

She studied it, and then cross referenced the data on the computer next to her. "Name?"

"Jacob Forester."

"Can I see some I.D.?"

Agent Alpha pulled out the prepared I.D. cards and driver license. The police woman studied each card, looking for possible deceptions. Seeing none, she handed the cards back to Agent Alpha. "You can go ahead and see the police chief now. Just proceed into the main room in the back and walk down the hall on the right. The chief's office is the second door on the right."

After taking back the falsified cards, Agent Alpha smiled and said, "Thank you" before walking off to follow the police woman's instructions. Actually, he had the entire layout of the headquarters memorized many days prior to the mission. Just like he would trace the path on the map with a finger when he studied it, he followed that path through the main room and down the hall to the chief's office. At the second door on the right, he knocked on the solid wood barrier. A voice from the other side said gruffly, "Come in." Agent Alpha smiled when he heard the response. No challenges. He opened the door and entered, closing the door behind him. In the room, a large desk stood between the Agent and the police chief. The police chief looked up with an expression of shock. "Who are you?"

Agent Alpha pulled a pistol from under his sweater. "I'm our scheduled meeting. Don't you remember?" He pulled the trigger. No boom or any sound emitted from the fire arm. Only a click and swoosh. The next second, a needle was impaled in the neck of the police chief. The police chief tried to stand and shout an alarm, but his voice was suddenly constricted and silenced to nothing but a whisper.

"What…who are you?" whispered the police chief.

Agent Alpha pulled a device the size of a two-way radio out of his pocket and pushed a button. The air around Agent Alpha shimmered ominously until it seemed to solidify. In front of the startled police chief stood a perfect look alike. The police chief only got a second to stare in shock before he dropped onto his desk in a coma. Agent Alpha walked around the desk and knocked on the concrete wall directly behind the desk. The wall started to swing out and Agent Alpha saw before him another agent. Together, they moved the police chief from his prone position on the desk to the secret tunnel. Nifty, thought Agent Alpha. If only every assassination went like this. Only buildings that hadn't been constructed before the boss made his plans could have these secret tunnels and that only when the building was planned for the attack.

With the body of the police chief gone, Agent Alpha closed the secret door and sat at the chief's chair. He pulled out the music player and typed in a coded text to transmit. "A.I.S.G." Agent In Status Green. The high commander would certainly be pleased now.

3:9:57

3:9:58

3:9:59

3:10:00

Driftveil City fell back behind me into the distant horizon. Yusuf wasn't wrong. Latios could clear vast distances speedily. Up ahead, massive mountains formed a large range on the western side of Unova. From my height, I looked down and observed a little town in the foothills. Latios was flying a straight line towards the mountain overshadowing the village. Or at least, in the evening, it would overshadow the town, when the sun was setting. Snow drifts dotted the mountain side, clustering more as they neared the top of the mountain. Dark gray clouds surrounded the top like a cloak. Forest pines and aspen trees covered the sky like a green garment, doing nothing more than hiding the cold hard rock surface beneath.

Latios dipped and shot through the gray clouds. With my vision blocked, I reached out with Aura to see my way. I felt lucario's presence as he was doing the same. Latios required no Aura to guide him. Something else beyond my understanding guided him. With tendrils of Aura, I felt the molecules of air and water in the clouds, felt the warmth of the sun in a new marvelous way, and caressed the cool wind as if it was a blanket. Beyond the clouds, I felt the mountain beneath. The tendrils of Aura touched the tree tops and traced out every leaf, every crack in the bark, every vein within, and every root underground. As suspected, the garment of trees the mountains wore did little more than hide the cold foreboding mountain underneath.

"Master. Look." Lucario said. I followed his tendrils of Aura to where they led to the peak of the mountain. At the top, the land flattened out. Snow collected here in drifts several feet thick. My own tendrils dived into the snow, touched every single snowflake, until hitting stone. But not just any stone. I wove around it with Aura. The stone was perfectly square. Not only that, but many square stones lay scattered and buried in the snow. With aura, I scanned around even further until I found what was left of a wall. At this distance, I started to form a map of what was below. I traced out a circle of crumbling walls and towers. Snow had invaded every crevice and every room of the castle in ways no invading army could in ancient times. Within the crumbling walls, more crumbling towers lay at the mercy of the elements. However, in the center of the ruins, a single tower rose up strong and resolute against the elements, snow, and whatever else nature had brought to bear against it. It had stood up against countless armies probably and even now, still stood resolute and strong.

Latios landed in one of the courtyards of the castle. I and lucario dismounted and I stared around in wonderment. Every stone used in the castle held a unique deep gray hue, with traces of deep blue. On moonlit nights, I was certain this castle would actually have looked beautiful. Lucario still looked around with Aura. "Master. We're not alone. There's…someone in the top tower with one pokemon." I looked up at the single strong tower. With gray clouds blocking the sun and filtering much of the light, I could see a blood red light illuminated in the topmost window of the tower. "Yes. I see it lucario. And I think that's where we are supposed to go."

We entered the castle through the remains of a door. Strangely, latios remained behind. Rather than light a lamp or a torch, I relied solely on Aura to guide me through the tower's interior. We found a staircase that led up and took to walking up the steps. With Aura, I felt every crack in the walls, the individual stones, and the steps. It amazed me that this tower was still standing considering how fragile it looked to be from the perspective of Aura. The staircase continued upwards further and further past many floors with crumbling floors. From the outside, the tower hadn't looked no more than ten stories high. But walking up that staircase, it felt more like twenty. Floor after floor passed below us until up ahead, I could see the soft glow of the blood red light. We walked slower and slower up the stairs, cautious of the possibility of traps that could have been prepared for intruders. Finding none on our ascent, we cleared the last step and walked into a large room at the top of the tower with a stone floor. Again, I found it shocking that the floor remained, it was so fragile.

The cool wind whistled through four windows around the room, constructed to face the north, south, east, and west. Above each window, a large lantern hung, filling the room with its crimson light. In the center of the room, an odd contraption caught my eye and interest. It looked like the combination of a clock and a compass, with multiple arms circling slowly around a face of pearly white at the whims of gears hidden beneath. Above it, a globe of weaving bands spun in multiple directions at once, but always in a circle. A bird pokemon, braviary, sat on the northern window sill. Reaching out with Aura, I and lucario shared a feeling of shock. Lucario perfectly worded it: "Master. This room is full of Aura."

It was now that I noticed the old man circling the odd device in the center of the room. He paced unceasingly with a pocket watch on a rusted chain in his hand. He studied the clock and the odd contraption while he paced. Braviary watched from his position. All at once, the gears grinded and the arms moved in a sluggish movement, with grinding noises, finally ending with producing a bell like note. The old man stopped, directly between me and the device, studying it and the globe beneath. One last look at the clock and I could feel with Aura feelings of happiness coming from the man. He deposited the watch into his pocket and turned around. "Malik. Welcome. And welcome to you lucario. You are a little earlier than expected. But then again, the future can't always be told perfectly."

I now had a good look at his face. He wore multiple layers of leather clothes to protect him from the cold, but his feet were bare and worn from many scars coming from possibly decades of pacing around the contraption. His hands and face were wrinkled like one well past his prime, and his face was drawn like one who hadn't had enough to eat lately. A bald spot on the center of his head gave way to streams of snow white hair that fell like waterfalls down the sides of his head. A beard also joined the many waterfalls, falling all the way to the waist and bound in increments with leather cords. But his eyes, which I thought would look old and worn with many years, looked more alive than any I had ever seen. And while in one's eyes, I could see their personality; this man's eyes were like twin pools of bright blue water with depths that never seemed to end. They seemed timeless.

"Excuse me, but how do you know us?"

The man smiled a weak smile. "Ah, that is a long story. You'd be surprised what I know."

"Like what?"

"You are an Aura Guardian, abandoned by your parents at a very young age in the Sinnoh Region. That's when you met lucario. You two developed such a relationship that goes beyond simple bonding, you need no pokeball with lucario. An assassin named Gladius rescued you and brought you back to a place called Pier Town, where you decided to join the Order of Assassins. Gladius and many others mentored you, but your world was forever changed when Gladius died in battle ten years ago. After you became a lord assassin, you journeyed the Sinnoh Region and eventually conquered its league with ease. After that, you returned, finding that the order of assassins had disbanded forever and that you were the last one. So, you returned to wearing the garb of the assassins and devoted your life to fighting crime and corruption in the Sinnoh Region. Need I go on?"

He was surprisingly right on all accounts. Lucario transmitted feelings of shock and interest to me and I returned them. "No. You seem to know more than Yusuf let on."

"Ah yes. Yusuf. He was my first visitor in a long time. My last visitor before him were the Aura guardians who lived here long ago, when this castle still stood strong."

"Aura guardians once lived here?"

"Oh yes. Unova has a long history with the aura guardians. There is an island in the very center of Unova, which was the ancient birthplace of the aura guardians. No doubt, you have felt the concentration of aura that lies in this room?"

I and lucario nodded. "Yes. Why is that?"

The man shrugged. "I'm not completely sure. But the theory is, in places where aura guardians lived for generations, traces are left. Though why Aura chooses to remain in one place at all times is beyond me. But this I do know: the ancient birthplace of the aura guardians in the center of Unova is flooded with Aura, only known to those who can touch it. However, there are many myths of common people feeling its touches when they journey to the island."

"So what did you do here?"

"I was the caretaker. I'm no aura guardian, just a servant. But then, the day came when the aura guardians went to war to keep the world peace. It was a terrible war that caused the outer walls and towers of this castle to fall to ruin. From that moment forward, the aura guardians started to die out."

"Wait a second. You can't possibly be that old."

"I am."

Shock filled my mind. How could he be possibly thousands of years old? "But then, who are you?"

"Although I did have a name long ago, I seem to have forgotten it. Instead, I simply call myself the timekeeper."

"You…keep time?"

"Yes…and no. I watch over it? Come, let me show you." He gesture for us to approach. So we did. As worried as I was that the fragile floor would give way to our weight, it never even creaked. We stood alongside the timekeeper and studied the odd contraption in the center of the room. "This device was specifically built to foretell danger in the future of Unova."

"Has it ever worked?"

"Yes. It foretold the war that nearly wiped out the aura guardians. Since then, the arms and gears have never moved. But ten years ago, it started to move again, foretelling events yet to come and counting back to this moment. It counts forwards from this moment and backwards from the closing of the crisis. Not only that, but those weaving parts of the globe above build physical pictures for me to see. From here, I saw explosions in Oppelucid City, the destruction of a building in Castelia City, and even the time of your arrival at this castle."

"You knew of these events in advance and never told anyone?"

"Who would believe an old fool? My telling others wouldn't have changed anything. This device had never been wrong."

"So why did you tell Yusuf that he shouldn't fight the terrorists?"

"Events have to take place exactly as they were meant to be. If Yusuf had involved himself, it would have only brought pain to him and others. Thankfully, he came to this castle looking for mystery and adventure and I managed to warn him."

"That's a lame excuse to stay on the sidelines. People have died."

"And more people have yet to die and you can't stop it. Neither can Yusuf. This device told me that if Yusuf did involve himself, even more people would have eventually died. Don't worry. His time is fast approaching."

Still sounded like a lame excuse to me. But the whole scene had caught me off guard, so I had no choice but to trust the timekeeper. "So, if this device can tell the end of the crisis, then tell me who will win?"

The man sighed. "I don't know. And neither does it. You see, the future is constantly changing and while some things are written in stone, other things can change in the blink of an eye." I frowned. He continued. "This I can tell you. In this war, three sides are at war. Two will take center stage in the conflict and will fight to the bitter end. Who will win, I know not. But the third side sits quietly in the shadows, unknown to either of the other two sides. No matter which of the other two sides wins, this unknown third side will eventually rise to power in Unova. What happens then, I do not know."

His words shocked me. A third side? And it would rise to power? How could it be? "Are you sure?"

"The device is never wrong. Like I said, I know not which of the two sides will win. But no matter what, the third side will rise to power in Unova."

"Well, can you tell me who the leader of the terrorists is?"

"No. I know not who the leader is."

"Can you at least tell me why they are attacking us?"

The man was silent for a while. "Many reasons. Purpose, duty, personal devotion. But one thing drives every movement: revenge."

"Revenge?"

"Yes. The terrorists target the world, but Unova will receive the brunt of the assaults. This Region is the battleground that will define the state of the world at the end. This isn't revenge on just Unova, but also on the entire world."

I stared at the floor, contemplating his words. What could this mean? "Is there anything else you can tell me? Why did the terrorists kill one hundred and thirty-four assassins prior to the heavier attacks?"

"That, you will have to find out for yourself. But I will conclude with this: The enemy is fighting a total war. You choose to fight back with a strategy that calls for no backing up, any retreating, and accepting collateral damage. You fight total war with total war."

"Yes. That's how it should be fought. There are no rules in war except subdue, or be subdued."

"But when an unbreakable offense meets an unbreakable defense, Unova will suffer. You are fighting the wrong battle Malik. Listen to me. In the end, you will have to make a choice. And that choice will decide the fate of the Unova Region."

"And what is that choice?"

"Only you can know that. And that choice will come at its assigned time."

"And when will that arrive?"

"When the time is right. You need not rush the future to arrive." Suddenly, the gears started to grind together and the arms on the clock face started to turn. The timekeeper turned to study the contraption and the globe floating above. When everything finally ceased moving, the weaving parts of the globe formed something of a rudimentary picture. The timekeeper adopted a look of concern. "Again? This device has been predicting more and more events that will happen today. It's odd."

"Why does it do that?"

"It only means that the end of the crisis is near and that the winner will soon be decided."

"So, what's going to happen?"

"I see three attacks taking place soon. One in a sleepy little town of little significance. One in a city of advance seeking to commune with nature. A third in a city of rocks and earth connected to the rest of the Region through trade."

Three attacks. Two in cities and one in a town. But the clues were all I needed. Panic entered into my mind. I consulted with lucario and he agreed. We needed to leave right now. "I need to leave."

The timekeeper didn't look concerned at our sudden exit. "Yes you do. You need to be at one of the attacks."

Before I could question what that meant, I and lucario were running down the stairs as fast as we could. Lucario started jumping off the walls to allow me room to leap over whole sections of the staircase. Before long, we had reached the ground floor. Snow and the cool wind whipped at our faces when we emerged. Latios still waited there, collecting a little snowfall on his back. I and lucario jumped on his back and I shouted, "Latios, carry us fast to Driftveil City! As fast as you can!" Latios cried in assent and took off in the sky. Within a few seconds, the castle started to fade behind us as we disappeared into the clouds. However, every time I looked back, I could see the blood red light coming from the top window.

I checked the computer on my left arm and cursed silently. There wasn't any phone reception out here. "Latios!" I shouted over the wind. "I need you to fly faster so that I can find some phone reception!" Latios cried his assent again and we flew faster through the gray clouds. The wind whistled by at a hundred miles an hour, whipping my clothes around and causing me to squint my eyes. As fast as a jet, we shot out of the gray clouds. I dared look back to see that the parallel wind produced by latios had actually dragged some clouds out of formation. Lucario shared in my surprise at how fast we were flying. It figured to me that we were only just shy of the sound barrier.

I again checked my arm computer. Thankfully, we were within a phone reception zone. I started to dial a number near the top of the screen and accessed my ear-bound com device. Please pick up. Please pick up. I looked at my timekeeper with growing concern.

3:25:43

Please pick up the phone Steven.

Steven and his friend Ray sat kneeling behind a dumpster in the Western Harbor District. Before them, a high fence with barb wire lining the top denied entry to a plot of land occupied by multiple warehouses. Ray had a pair of binoculars with him, through which he studied the layout. "I see some pretty heavy security. So what's the plan, Steven my man?"

Steven stared at the compound with practiced patience. They had been sitting here for nearly five minutes now, looking for a way in. "I see some big ventilation shafts leading into the compound. We can get in through there."

"And then what. What's so special about these people?"

Steven started to answer before a loud buzzing started to come from his left pocket. He pulled out his phone and read the caller I.D. It simply read, "Assassin". Steven pushed the receive button and held the phone up to his ear to speak. "Yes. What do you need?"

Steven could hear the sound of rushing wind from the other side and the sound of Malik shouting over it. "Steven! Where are you? Are you still at police headquarters?"

"Negative. I'm…I'm off site. What do you need?"

"I need you to get in touch with the police chief and tell him that three attacks are about to take place! One in Driftveil City and one in Black City!"

Steven forgot everything about the mercenaries in his shock. "Where's the third attack?"

"I don't know! Some sleepy town, which means it could Village Bridge, Lacunosa Town, Accumula Town, or Nuvema Town! Just lock them all down!"

"And how do you know this?"

"I can't disclose that information right now. Just get in touch with the police chief and tell him to deploy units to lock down those places. I'm on my way to Driftveil City to find the enemy agent. Send backup in case I need."

"But how do you know that you can trust…"

" #!*% it Steven, just call in the cavalry already! If you ignore every possibility for terrorist attacks just because of distrust of anonymous sources, you'll have more dead on your hands! Just do it!"

"Okay, I'll call up the police…" A long beep sounded from the phone. Malik had disconnected the line. Blast it. Steven started to dial the police chief's office number with the news. Number dialed, Steven held up the phone to his ear. The police chief needed to hear this.

Agent Alpha sat in the police chief's chair – or rather, his chair – listening to two lieutenants talk on about the status of the security grid over Castelia City. Agent Alpha tried to contain his boredom at the moment. The news about the security grid was old news for him, since the freedom fighters had agents watching everything. It was tempting to just shout to them about how the security grid wouldn't do a darn thing when the freedom fighters launched their piece de resistance. Excitement bubbled inside at just the thought.

Midway through the conference, the phone started to ring. Agent Alpha reached over and pushed the button. "Yes, what is it?" Through the magic of a voice disguiser attached to his neck, his voice sounded exactly like the chief's

A cop on the other end said, "Excuse me sir. Steven Stone on line one for you. He says its urgent."

Agent Alpha didn't know what to think of that. Steven Stone, the former champion of Hoenn. What could be so urgent, he wondered? Unfortunately, for the sake of his cover in front of the two lieutenants, he pushed the button for line one. "Yes Steven. You're on speaker with me and two lieutenants. What do you need?"

"Chief," Started Steven. "I've just received a…anonymous phone call saying that there will soon be three terrorist attacks."

The two lieutenants in the room started in shock. Agent Alpha cursed mentally. How the bloody #!*% did Steven Stone hear of that? "Can you trust the source?"

"Respectfully sir, I think we should take the source at his word. We've already lost two witnesses that could have brought down the terrorists. If we ignore this, many people could die."

If only you did ignore it, thought Agent Alpha. Then people would die. "Well, okay. Do you know what the targets are?"

"Yes. One attack will be in Driftveil city, one in Black City, but the location of the third is still unknown. The source said it could have been any of the small towns in the Region. I suggest that we deploy agents and lock them all down."

Blast. He had two out of three correct. Who the #!*% was this source? "All right. I'm deploying agents right now." Agent Alpha gestured to the two lieutenants, signaling them to take care of things. Once they were gone, he asked, "Steven, where are you?"

"I'm…I'm taking care of some things right now. Trust me sir."

"These days, I don't know who to trust. Are you sure we can trust this source?"

"Yes. He sounded adamant about the attacks. And frankly sir, we don't have any leads."

"Fine. Just finish whatever you're doing and get back soon." Agent Alpha pressed the button on the phone and leaned back into his chair. Brilliant. Just brilliant. Those three attacks were supposed to take place soon and somehow Steven knew of it. Who was this source? Did an agent in the ranks get cold feet? No. The high commander watches everyone and everything. He would have known if one of the freedom fighters got cold feet.

Agent Alpha withdrew his phone from his pocket. Dialing a number, he held the phone up to his ear. A cold hard voice on the other end said, "Yes?"

"High commander. This is Agent Alpha Dog."

"Is your cover secure?"

"Yes sir. And we're speaking on a secure line."

"Good. Now what is it?"

"I don't know how sir, but information has been leaked about the latest attacks. Steven Stone heard of them from a source and told me. Unfortunately, I had two other cops in the room and to maintain my cover, I had to order the deployment of agents to the sites of the attacks."

"Do you know who the source is?"

"No. Steven said it was anonymous. But what could I do?"

"You did well Agent Alpha. And so long as your cover is maintained, it doesn't matter if the attacks are prevented. The other agents are about to conduct their attacks."

"Thank you sir. But Stone's going to be a problem. Should I take care of him?"

"Negative. I have an agent watching him. But yes, he needs to be taken care of. He knows something I need to know."

"I'll leave that in your capable hands sir. How soon does the next phase of the operation move forward?"

"Within an hour. Are you ready?"

"Yes sir. All units are in position in the city."

"Good. Then be ready." The high commander disconnected the line and Agent Alpha shut his phone. Yes, he would be ready. Soon, no one would doubt the true rulers of Unova.

3:30:57

3:30:58

3:30:59

3:31:00

My feet pounded the concrete of the sidewalk in my sprint through Driftveil. Lucario ran along the rooftops in the shadows where no one would see him. After latios had landed early, I and lucario had run into the city. Hidden from everyone, lucario looked around with Aura for anyone with dark intentions. We ran through the city, down alleyways, and over streets looking for the terrorist or terrorists. Unfortunately, lucario only had a range of one mile and I couldn't do much better. And so, we ran about, covering the city in our search. Giant sandstone buildings rose over us, giving way to the steel and concrete skyscrapers downtown. As much as I didn't want to look for terrorists in that forest of steel, it was certainly a possibility.

"Master. I found him." Lucario sent the signals, causing me to stop dead in the middle of an empty street which used to a busy highway. Now fear kept people off the streets as much as possible.

"Where?"

"He's at the marketplace. And I count several dozen innocents around him."

"I'm on my way. Follow, but stay in the shadows. I don't want you showing yourself to the public." From my position on the street, I traced a path to the marketplace in my mind. With the map drawn, I started running in the direction of the marketplace. I took to the alleyways mostly to cut through the blocks of buildings that stood in my way. Lucario still ran on the rooftops, leaping over whole streets through the power of Aura. Closer and closer.

I emerged from another alleyway into a highway. This one appeared immune to fear, as cars ran left and right. I cursed my bad luck. It was nearly completely blocked. With no other choice and no bridge to cross over, I ran out into the middle of the street. A small red car from the right honked its horn, giving me plenty of warning to jump. I leaped, and the little red car passed easily underneath. In the next lane, I wasn't so lucky. A large semi truck running parallel with the red car honked its horn. Instead of jumping and gaining ground, I dropped down and flattened my body to the ground. The semi truck passed over my prone form with a roar. I studied the tires and frame in that one second it took to clear out. Once passed, I rose and jumped into the next lane. Now cars started approaching from the opposite direction. Drivers honked their horns and shouted many expletives at me while I passed by. Finally, I reached the opposite sidewalk and kept running.

Another alleyway allowed me access to the central plaza of Driftveil City. The entire plaza was split off from the city streets by walls of buildings surrounding this massive plaza. The only vehicles allowed were bikes or scooters. People milled about the plaza, window shopping and the likes. Two police officers stood nearby, watching everything. Obviously not watching enough, I observed. They didn't even know that a terrorist was in their midst. In the center of the plaza, a massive structure made of steel beams and a metal roof covered an open-air market. Dozens of vendors sold a variety of goods here to people for really good prices, and the service was supposed to be fantastic. However, I noticed the many closed doors and shut down vendors. Fear touched everywhere you looked. "Lucario. Where is the terrorist?"

"In the marketplace master." I started running. The marketplace loomed bigger and bigger in my vision as I drew closer. Suddenly, I felt a signal of alarm from lucario. I dug my feet in the ground, causing them to squeak against the surface while I tried to stop. Then I dropped onto my back, causing my back to skid against the ground and to bring my body to a stop. Lucario shouted in my mind, "Master!" And then my vision was filled with nothing but fire. Explosions, dozens of them, filled the marketplace. Bits and pieces of produce from the stalls flew out engulfed in flames. The metal roof burst like a bubble, allowing flames and debris to fly out the top like a volcano. Tiny pieces of red hot metal flew down like tiny darts. I felt them strike my arms as I protected my face from them. The steel beams, bent from the explosions, gave way and caused the entire structure to cave inwards. After all that, one final explosion unleashed its fury, turning the collapsed marketplace into a shrapnel grenade. Pieces of metal flew out. Windows in the surrounding buildings shattered as though by bullets. One piece flew out faster than I could dodge and struck me on the head, knocking me back. I could feel a deep gash and blood trickling down my head before everything started to fade. Darkness crept in around my vision until I couldn't feel anything I felt my consciousness slipping away. My mind felt weak. I let go and slipped into the darkness of unconsciousness.

3:43:57

3:43:58

3:43:59

3:44:00

Everything went better than Steven had originally expected. The guards had a blind spot in their defenses. Steven and Ray had taken advantage of this blind spot and infiltrated the base. From there, they had opened up the ventilation shaft leading into the main warehouse. Climbing in and entering the building was the easy part. But as Steven and Ray were constantly seeing now, remaining hidden was much, much harder.

Steven inched along in the ventilation shaft. At certain increments, a shuttered opening in the shaft allowed them a perfect view of what was going on inside. Steven crawled carefully up to the next one and peeked through. There in the warehouse, dozens of tables and chairs had been set up in the big space that had once been the training yard. Now where pokemon once brutally attacked each other, their trainers sat around tables eating food from military grade ration packs. Steven tried counting them. At least three hundred eating in this one room. That meant if each one trained six pokemon, that meant at least eighteen hundred pokemon. And that was just this one warehouse. It was possible for more to be gathered in the other warehouses. If it was true that these mercenaries were helping the terrorists, then the terrorists had their own personal army of powerful pokemon in Castelia City ready to be unleashed. Add in the number of mercenary armies throughout the region and how their soldiers were spread out even further to protect people, the terrorists were in control of every city, every town, and _every square inch_ of Unova. It sounded like an effective plan. Create enough fear; people would start trusting these mercenaries, which the terrorists were using as a personal army to take over. Even Steven had to marvel at the simplicity of the plan. These terrorists were using the people of Unova to take over the Region. Now, if only they could find some proof of the connection between the terrorists and the mercenaries.

Steven and Ray continued to inch along through the air duct, careful not to alert anyone to their presence. They wouldn't even whisper, in case it echoed enough for someone to hear. All communication would be with hands and body gestures. They continued on their way around the perimeter of the warehouse until they arrived above a section walled off for offices. Glancing through a shuttered opening, Steven studied the offices. Only one caught his interest. The mercenary boss was working on paperwork in there. After a couple of minutes, he finished and slipped the paperwork into a file cabinet built into his desk. Next, he walked out to join his soldiers in the mess hall. Steven and Ray crawled to the ventilation shaft opening set above the boss's officer. Carefully, Steven unlocked the opening. It fell out suddenly and Steven caught it before it alerted anyone. He carefully brought it inside the air duct, setting it carefully against the wall. Ray went first, sliding through the narrow opening and entering the room unnoticed. He ran to the door which had a window in. Satisfied that they were clear, he signaled Steven to enter the room.

As soon as his feet touched the floor, Steven started searching through the multiple file cabinets in the office, looking for the evidence he needed. Knowing that anyone could walk in at any moment and that they didn't have long, Steven worked swiftly and carefully. He skimmed each page and every scrap of information, looking for something of relevance. Ray checked in on his progress. "Have you found anything yet?"

"Nothing yet. I don't really know what to look for."

"I see. What do you even know about these mercenaries?"

"I had an informant who said the mercenaries were connected to the terrorists for some big operation set to take place today. But then he was killed in police headquarters before we could interrogate him. And we didn't even have enough evidence to justify a more aggressive search."

"So you're settling for this covert one?"

"Yeah. These mercenaries are connected to the terrorists. I just know it."

"I see. Sounds like you know a lot more than the police. What about this contact of yours? Why didn't you tell the police chief who he was?"

"He's…not exactly someone who the police would trust. It's complicated."

"I see."

Steven skimmed yet another folder until his eyes hit something. "Ha. Here it is. The evidence I need."

Ray walked over. "What is it?"

"It's a schedule, with different information than the ordinary schedules available to the soldiers. Look. At seven, there's the attack on Castelia. Before that in the morning, the Oppelucid City attacks and the harbor bombing. These mercenaries knew of the attacks in advance. They must be connected with the terrorists. I'm calling this in." Steven pulled out his phone to call the police chief, ecstatic on the inside about what he had found.

Ray walked back to his position at the door. "That's great. Now the mercenaries can be taken down. Pretty soon, the terrorists will be gone and your assassin friend can go back to Sinnoh."

Steven stopped dialing. He set down the schedule and reached behind his back for a pokeball. "Excuse me, but I don't believe I've told you or anyone that my contact is an assassin." Steven pulled out the pokeball, brandishing it like a weapon. Ray whirled around and through six pokeballs. White energy from within flew through the air and landed in front of Steven. Blast it, thought Steven. Ray's famous six rotom team. Six rotoms in each of their unique forms stood on the desk in front of Steven. The door opened and the mercenary boss, flanked by two soldiers brandishing more pokeballs, walked in. The boss laughed and slapped Ray's back. "Well done Agent Ray."

Steven couldn't believe his ears. Ray, a terrorist. "You? You treacherous #!*% , how could you?"

The boss shook his head. "No Steven. You just don't understand. How can my good friend Ray be treacherous to you if he was always on my side? Now kindly hand over all of your pokeballs to Agent Ray and let's be civil about it." Reluctantly, Steven handed each of his six pokemon to Ray, along with his phone. "Agent Ray, take those pokeballs and put them in lockdown." commanded the boss. Ray – Agent Ray – walked out with Steven's pokemon in hand. The boss addressed the two soldiers. "You two. Lock Mr. Stone in shackles." The two soldiers rushed forward and grasped Steven's arms. Steven could feel the cold metal of shackles wrapping around his arms. They dragged him from behind the desk to stand in front of their boss. The boss smiled with a fake smile. "Now Mr. Stone. Tell me. Who is the assassin?"

With cold defiance in his voice, Steven replied, "I'm not telling you anything."

"Wrong answer." The boss delivered a hard punch to Steven's stomach. The air rushed out of Steven's lungs and he gasped from the pain. "Now, I'm going to ask you again. Who is the assassin?"

Steven tried to laugh confidently. "You won't get any information out of me. And you will certainly not be allowed to take over Unova."

"Oh really? Pray tell me why that is."

"Security is higher than ever. You'll never be able to break the defenses the police have set up against the terrorists and others of your ilk."

Surprisingly, the boss started laughing jovially. "Ha ha ha. That's the best story I've ever heard. Do you even realize the steps that have been taken to ensure absolute supremacy over the Unova Region? No? Well then, let me tell you. It'll make you laugh. You're so called defenses, ha ha ha, were personally designed by my clients the freedom fighters. Those whom you call terrorists hold the keys to every gate and defensive wall. Why do you think it has been so easy for them thus far to slip past your defenses? You and your cop friends have been relying on defenses built by terrorists. Ha ha ha! I told you it was funny."

Steven couldn't believe his ears. "No. That's impossible."

"Believe it or not, that's your choice. Just know this, you're defenses don't mean squat to my clients. And your police friends, ha ha ha! Your police forces are about as corrupted as your governments. Do you really think that Agent 5, a.k.a. Sven, was the only infiltrator we have in the Castelia Police? We have agents everywhere. Our eyes and ears see and hear everything."

All Steven could do was stare in shock. The mercenary boss laughed at Steven's silence. "You're living in a daydream Mr. Stone. Nothing but a daydream. Oh, I've just seen what you're willing to do to protect that daydream. But that daydream of yours is about to collapse. My clients are the real rulers of Unova, and soon the whole world and there's absolutely nothing you or your assassin friend can do about it. You've lost. So I'm going to ask you one more time. Who is the assassin?" Steven remained silent. "Not feeling very talkative. Well, we have a place for people like you. You two take this scum and hang him out to dry until he's feeling more talkative."

"And if he doesn't talk, do we kill him?" asked one of the soldiers.

"No. We can use him as the centerpiece of our parade when we are marching in victory through the streets of Castelia and soon the whole world. Let the whole world look upon their hero, the former champion of Hoenn, and know that they are truly defeated. Take him."

The two soldiers dragged Steven off to where they could chain him to the ceiling and leave him hanging. While they did this, the mercenary boss pulled a cell phone from his pocket and dialed a number. A voice on the other end responded, "Yes?"

"High commander. This is Agent CC. I thought you might want to know that I have Mr. Steven Stone here in a prison cell. I caught him inside one of my warehouses."

"Did he find any evidence that would prove your connection to my freedom fighters?"

"Yes, but he never had time to send it to anyone. That agent you supplied to follow him proved invaluable."

"Good. I don't want any mistakes."

"I have him locked up here. Do you want me to move him to a more secure location?"

"Negative. He will be fine where he is right now."

"Am I right to assume that no one at police headquarters will be missing him anytime soon?"

"You are correct."

"Then am I also correct to assume that the next phase of the operation will be moving forward soon?"

"You are again correct. Have your men ready to move within the hour."

"They are battle ready high commander. I expect after all of this is done, we will be paid well for our efforts?"

"Absolutely. You and your men will live like kings when this whole thing is done."

"Great. We will not fail you high commander."

"See that you don't." The high commander shut down the line before the mercenary boss could say another word. Within an hour? A little delay, but not major. Within an hour, the whole world would change. The mercenary boss could laugh gleefully at the thought all day.

3:59:57

3:59:58

3:59:59

4:00:00


	13. Chapter 13

The following takes place between 4 P.M. and 5 P.M.

John Samuels scanned over the speech the high commander had faxed to his hotel room. It was simple speech, meant to encourage and invigorate. In front of him, the TV screen was displaying video footage of the sites of the three latest attacks. After he had first seen them, John couldn't help by vomit in the bathroom. The TV people were saying that just shy of a hundred people had died and many more were injured. John thought about what he was doing, giving a speech to loyal supporters of martial law at the request of the leader of the terrorists who had just sentenced almost a hundred people to an unexpected death. He could just vomit again at the thought of it all. How could he do this? This wasn't how it used to be, not in the least.

A knock at his hotel door alerted him. He quickly hid the speech in case someone got suspicious and shouted, "Who is it?"

A voice on the other side shouted, "It's your friend David. Just thought you should know that everyone's ready. We're waiting on you."

Great. At his request for one hundred thousand people to gather for a demonstration, nearly two hundred thousand loyal supporters of martial law had gathered in Castelia City for this moment. In a few minutes, they would be marching on the regional government headquarters to demand in force that martial law be instituted and that the government take more aggressive steps to ensure the safety of the people. "Um, Okay. I'll be out in a moment."

"All right. Just don't take too long. The sooner we go, the more likely the government could bend to our wishes."

"I know. I'll be out in a moment." John stood and walked over to his closet, where he consulted what color suit to wear. Should I wear the dark gray or the light gray; thought John as he studied each color. Or maybe the navy blue. What did one wear when they were about to lead an army of citizens on a march on government to demand that their freedoms be taken away in exchange for security? He didn't know. So he settled for the navy blue with the red handkerchief inside the pocket. It really made no sense what he wore that day for this. Why should it matter how you look when you're doing the wishes of terrorists?

After dressing, John Samuels scanned the speech for the millionth time. In it was information about the terrorist attacks not normally available to the public. After scanning it, he tore up the piece of paper and threw it in the trash can. After checking himself in the mirror, fighting the temptation to vomit again, and taking one last drink of water, he walked out the door.

Outside, crowds of people crowded the parking lot of his hotel room and the streets around. They were all here for one purpose: to keep themselves safe. That was human nature, right? To survive? Even if it meant sacrificing freedoms? John Samuels had heard many of the stories told by his followers. Some were single mothers who wanted to keep their young safe. Others were husbands of families they would gladly do anything to protect. Here and there, were powerful trainers who wanted to protect those who wanted to make a difference, thus helping make a difference. The terrorist attacks had touched the lives of every single one of these people in some way or another. A killed relative, a home destroyed, or a friend murdered.

One story John had heard had literally brought him to tears. These two girls grew up in the same town and had grown up together. Then one day, they were walking together on Marvelous Bridge two months ago when it was attacked with that bus bombing. One died while the other survived. And now, the one who survived was here today, telling her heart wrenching story to everyone she could. No one had enlisted more for this movement. John scanned the crowd. There she was, in a crowd of people who had bonded because they had all lost friends in terrorist attacks. They were each telling their stories, and they held up signs with pictures of the friends they had lost to the terrorists.

Looking around, John could see many signs. One read, "Down with apathetic government!" Another read, "Rise up martial law!" A third read, "Look here terrorists! We're united against you!" The last sign almost made John throw up. In the sanctity of his mind where no one else could see, he meditated on the fact that he was _working for the terrorists. _His friend David stood beside him. "Hey. You okay? You look like you're going to be sick."

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry." How could he have just lied to his closest friend? When you're working for the terrorists, nothing would be fine. "Let's get going." He walked forward through the crowd. When people saw him, they cleared a pathway for him to pass. Some reached and touched him as though he was some holy saint. As he walked through, more signs and banners took to the skies. People shouted a wide assortment of chants calling for martial law and better protection for the people. Looking around, John saw more signs that made his insides squirm and hurt. The most popular sign was very simple in design. It was a simple square sign on a stick, with big letters on the top spelling, "I am here for" and it left the bottom blank for whatever anyone wanted to spell. Gazing around, John saw a wide assortment of names. "I am here for Veronica. I am here for my family. I am here for my children. I am here for my unborn son. I am here for my friend Josh. I am here for Dillon. I am here for Sarah." The names and titles went on and on. It really hurt John.

Out on the streets, he found the head of the column. On his way, he had passed people from all walks of life. Carpenters, architects, fishermen, businessmen and women, stay-home moms, teachers, students, pokemon breeders, clerks, cable repairmen, journalists, trainers of all kinds, swimmers, athletes, whole families, widows, orphans, and single fathers. All of them had arrived for this day and this march.

People at the head of the column watched him. As much as he wanted to tell them the truth, that he was working for the terrorists. He just couldn't. So instead, with silence and no speech, he started walking down the street. People followed him. That hurt John more than anything. He was leading these people like sheep to slaughter. He wanted to shout, "Stop following me. I'm working with the terrorists. You're following me into slavery." But no matter what, he couldn't stop his footsteps. He couldn't loosen his tongue. He couldn't stop himself. It felt like invisible chains were holding him and dragging him forward to the end. All he could do was wish over and over again in his mind, "Oh please someone. Stop these terrorist #!*% ."

I don't know what woke me up first. Lucario's mental shouts into my head or the constant beep from a nearby heart monitor. My eyes opened slowly and I studied the surrounding environment. With my eyes, I saw a white ceiling with white lights. The walls were white as well with plaster, with blue stripes around the base and top. The floors too were white, with black specks. I was lying on a gurney with white sheets and a white pillow to rest my head. They must really like white here. I still had my clothes on, but wires from beneath my shirt ran to a heart monitor held on a silver pole that also held a screen and IV. I studied the screen. My pulse looked normal and my heart beat was normal as well. The green line representing my pumping heart ran straight until it shot up with every beat. At least I wasn't dead.

Next, I checked my body. My hands and arms were bandaged and my mind shot back to when I was defending my face from red hot shrapnel with my hands and arms. My forehead was also bandaged, where that big piece of metal from the marketplace grenade had struck me. I felt the bandages with careful touches. The white cloth was fastened tight around my head, and it felt like the gash had been quickly stitched up. At least no blood was leaking anymore. My clothes were slightly singed, but nothing beyond that seemed out of place. I quickly checked my left arm and my heart went cold. The device for creating portals to the reverse world wasn't there. Neither was my arm computer and my ear-bound com device was also missing. I silently cursed my bad luck.

Confident that I was fine aside from my missing belongings and bandaged head, I finally responded to lucario's hails. "Lucario. You okay?"

"Why are you asking me if I'm okay master? You're the one in the house of healing."

"Well, if I asked myself if I was okay, that would look plain weird."

Lucario sent a signal of amusement at imagining me talking to myself. "I'm fine master. I'm on the roof with latios. We haven't been noticed."

"What's going on right now?"

"The house of healing is surrounded by whirly birds. Many of them belong to the keepers of the law."

Whirly birds meant helicopters. So the hospital was surrounded by helicopters. "Anything suggesting that they're here for me?"

"No. they have dark intentions, but they're not directed at you. They're just angry at the latest attack."

"Good. What else had happened?"

"The terrorist got away. He must have ignited the explosives from a distance."

"Brilliant. Can you find him?"

"Negative. Everyone has such dark feelings after what happened; it's hard to pick him out. Even the nurse who stopped last to check your IV had dark intentions."

"By the way, do you know who took my portal device?"

"Negative. If it's taken, it must have been one of the nurses."

"Great. Just great." I made sure that I transmitted signals of sarcasm before lucario took it the wrong way. Telepathic communication was precarious. One wrong word without the emotions attached to it, and you could seriously offend someone or give them the wrong idea. "All right. I need to get out of this joint. Can you give me a distraction after I've checked with the nurses about something?"

"Yes master. But what are you going to talk with the nurses about? Is it the portal device?"

"Nope. Try explaining that to a nurse." Here, I transmitted a fictional scene to lucario about me explaining to a nurse that I seem to have misplaced my device for creating portals that allow me to go to the reverse world. Lucario in return sent signals of extreme amusement and the scene of the nurse sending me to the mental ward. I couldn't help but laugh out loud about that. "I just want to check with the nurse about my injuries."

"Understood master. I'll be ready when you are."

Thankfully, I didn't have long to wait. With the latest attack, nurses were rushing to and fro to conduct their duties. I caught the nearest one by the arm and asked about my condition. She picked up the file attached to the gurney and read aloud my condition. Nothing major. Just cuts and bruises, a few burns. The gash had been stitched up as I suspected and I was healing from a slight concussion. Aside from that, I was fine. After thanking the nurse, I inquired about some of my belonging without going into specifics. The nurse read a note left on my file. It simply read that certain questionable items had been confiscated as contraband and taken to the security office. Again, I said thank you and let the nurse go about her business.

"Lucario. Does the security office have a window?"

"Yes master."

"Great. Prepare that distraction. I'm going to need it in a minute." With Aura, I found the security office and the window. Careful not to strain myself, I hopped off the gurney and followed the trail of Aura to the security office. Nurses and doctors I passed hardly gave me bother. Although, I figured the bandage around my head would attract attention eventually. Turning a corner, I found the security office and entered. It was a small office built for two to work on surveying the hospital from the computers. I looked around for my stuff. At last, I found a small shoe box with my arm computer and ear com device. But the portal device was still missing.

Lucario sent a warning signal, alerting me several seconds prior to the door opening. A man in a security guard outfit entered and out eyes met. His eyes widened and his words formed one word. "Assassin." Alarm entered my mind. He knew me, which could only mean that he was a terrorist. With one hand, I produced an aura sphere and threw it at him. He screamed in shock before crashing backwards through the door engulfed in blue light. People outside screamed from shock at seeing a man flying through the door. With another aura sphere, I broke the single window in the room and climbed out. "Lucario! I need that distraction fifteen seconds ago!"

"Yes master." Suddenly, the whole building started shaking. The ground below shifted and I could see the pavement in the roads cracking. Lucario's earthquake. Quite a distraction. Despite the building's shaking, I climbed with great ease to the top. There, I found lucario and latios waiting for me. I and lucario jumped atop latios' back and we were soon airborne, flying with the greatest of ease above the city.

Satisfied with our escape, I accessed my arm computer and dialed Steven's number. The attacks still took place, which meant he probably wasn't able to warn the police in time. I needed to know what other attacks took place. The number dialed, but for some reason, Steven wasn't picking up. I dialed second time, but when Steven didn't pick up, I started getting concerned. Lucario sensed my concern. "What is it?"

"It's Steven. He isn't picking up his phone. I think something may have happened to him."

"Kidnapped by terrorists?"

"I don't know. Latios, take us back to Yusuf's house. We can try to solve things there."

Latios cried in agreement and we shot through the air towards the cottage.

4:12:57

4:12:58

4:12:59

4:13:00

Agent Delta found himself a private part of the hospital to make his urgent phone call. The number dialed and he held the phone up to his ear. A female voice on the other end said, "Code."

Agent Delta replied, "Code 99-Alpha Red."

"Very well. Secure com line created. Patching you through to the high commander."

Static filled the com line until someone picked up the communication line on the other end. "Agent Delta. Status."

"High commander. The target is dead. But there's another matter that concerns me."

"What is it?"

"I remained at Driftveil General Hospital to make sure the target was truly dead as you commanded, and I came across a stranger injured in the attack. He had a strange device on his left arm that was confiscated for looking strange. I checked it out and it appears to be a device of a different era and with an unknown design. I've already sent it to you with a secure mail pokemon. You should be receiving it soon."

"Is that it? An odd device?"

"No sir. I caught that same stranger trying to escape and he fired an aura sphere at me. It knocked me back and when I rose up, an earthquake was hitting the hospital and the stranger had disappeared."

"Interesting. Did the hospital by any chance keep records of his existence there?"

"Yes sir. I've already sent the electronic records to you."

Silence filled the line for a few minutes while the high commander checked the information sent to him. Finally, he returned saying, "Agent Delta, I want you to delete all information of this patient ever existing. He was never at that hospital, you understand?"

"Yes sir. I'll take care of it all."

"Good. And then get out of there. I'll need you for another mission soon."

"Thank you sir. I'll be out soon enough."

The line was dead. Agent Delta looked at his phone in confusion, wondering why the high commander wouldn't want any records to remain of the assassin.

The high commander stared at the face on his computer screen. The hospital people had taken the picture after they admitted him. He had a stitched up scalp, but besides that, he looked almost exactly like he remembered. Malik had certainly grown up since they had last met. He seemed more hardened, like one who had faced multiple challenges. The perfect assassin, thought the high commander. Was he a lord assassin now? Possibly. Of course, did it matter? The order of assassins was gone, buried like a single sand granule in the desert of the past.

Dracous started piecing the puzzle together. The fact that Malik was in Driftveil City at the time of the attack meant that he must have been the one who called Steven, telling him about all three attacks. Where Malik learned of them, that was a mystery for another day. Besides, Malik wasn't successful, so that part didn't matter. However, almost certainly Malik had information about the terrorists that he had received from Orion. I wonder if he's made the connection yet; thought Dracous. Does he know that I ordered the executions of one hundred and thirty-four of his fellow former assassins? Dracous pulled out some papers stapled together from his desk. On the papers, name after name filled the surface. A total of one hundred and thirty-five assassins. All but one of the names was crossed out. Malik's name sat completely separate from the names of every other assassin. Despite the many protests from his subordinate commanders who said that all one hundred and thirty-five should have been murdered, Dracous thought not. Malik intrigued him. Dracous wanted to see what Malik would do to stop his soldiers scattered throughout the Region. Why else would he order every physical record of him to be erased? Yes, he would watch what Malik would do. It really didn't matter. Not even Malik and his lucario could stop the machine from turning. But still, Dracous would watch.

4:16:53

Trisha checked her clock for the thousandth time. Only ten seconds had passed since the last time she had checked it. Worry gnawed as her mind. Malik still hadn't returned and three attacks had just taken place. One in the middle of Driftveil City for goodness sake. They had heard the explosion from the cottage. Scared Trisha half to death. Sapphira had fallen off the couch from shock. Yusuf had spilled the next batch of lemonade on the floor. Now no one knew what was going on. Yusuf's computer could access TV channels for looking at news. Two other attacks had indeed taken place. Eight car bombs had gone off at the same time in Accumula Town and a shooting took place at the battle center in Black City. The police had released a statement, saying that the attack at Black City was mostly prevented, but people still got injured. One died. The bomb blast in Driftveil marketplace had killed almost thirty people. The car bombs in Accumula Town had claimed the most lives, with almost seventy lives, since each of the car bombs ignited in heavily populated areas. Such a hard hit for such a small little town. Trisha had tried calling Malik, but he hadn't picked up once. She wanted answers, but no one was providing. What the #!*% was going on?

The dismal mood in the room seemed to weigh heavy on the shoulders of everyone within. Hoping to break the dismal mood, Sapphira tried to start a conversation. "So I'm curious. How can Malik communicate with his lucario without anyone hearing?"

Trisha was sort of thankful for the change from the dismal mood. "I really don't know. I think it's some sort of telepathy."

"In other words, he can tell lucario what to do in battle and his opponent won't know?"

"Yeah, I guess. I really don't know much about him."

"When did you meet?"

"Just this morning. But since then, I've seen the craziest things."

Yusuf walked in with a fresh batch of lemonade on a tray and decided to join in on the conversation. "That one is an aura guardian. He'll continue to do the craziest things."

Trisha and Sapphira both took glasses from the tray. Trisha took a sip of the fresh ice lemonade before continuing. "He's just so mysterious. I barely know anything about him."

Sapphira also took a sip of lemonade to wet her throat. "Then why are you hanging out with him?"

"Well, he did rescue me from the terrorists more than once. I guess he can be trusted."

"Still, there has to be just a little mistrust for him."

"Well yeah. Orion never mentioned him to me, so that's a little suspicious. Plus, there's all that talk of him being part of some shady organization. I can't help but wonder if whether or not he was just lying and that organization was really part of some crime."

Yusuf had taken several sips of his lemonade while listening to both sides of the conversation. "Well, what about that new information you just found?"

"Well, that's hardly conclusive. And we're not talking about that. We're talking about Malik, who just happens to show up at the height of the terrorist attacks. He's conveniently at the site where Orion was kidnapped and just happened to get away. I mean, it certainly looks suspicious."

"So what?" asked Sapphira. "Are you going to stop trusting him?"

"Well, I don't know. He looks like one of the good guys, but who is he?"

Yusuf set his glass down. "I think you're thinking of this wrong. The fact of the matter is, Malik isn't the enemy. The terrorists are. Let's deal with them first and then we can settle this Malik issue. So can we set it aside for another day?"

"If we have another day." Said Sapphira quietly. Although she didn't know it immediately, she had spoken the fear that weighed heavily on everyone's mind.

A moment of silence filled the room. After a while, Yusuf looked up. "Ah. Latios is back."

Trisha looked around. "I didn't hear anything?"

Yusuf was already walking to the door. "Of course he wouldn't hear him. But I've known latios for…" he looked up at the ceiling while he mentally calculated the time. "…a really long time."

Trisha locked eyes with Sapphira and they both giggled. Yusuf shook his head and opened the doors. How did girls seem to be thinking the same thing at the same time? Yusuf looked at lucario and Malik dismounting latios. Weird. Why was Malik wearing bandages around his head?

"Hello Malik!" Yusuf cried out to me from his position on the cottage threshold. With lucario at my side and latios trailing behind, I replied, "Hello Yusuf."

Yusuf gestured up to his own head while he asked, "What happened to your head?"

I smiled. "I had a nasty run in with a piece of metal. It's an interesting story that can wait until we're inside."

"All right. Come on in. By the way, Trisha found something out while you were gone that might interest you or it might completely confuse you."

"That's great. So I have a fifty-fifty chance between confusion and interest?"

"Actually, it's more like seventy to thirty that it will completely confuse you. But it is interesting. However, you owe us a story."

"All right. Let's just get inside." We all entered the house, where I found Sapphira lying on her couch and Trisha sitting opposite her on the other couch. Trisha looked up in shock at the bandages on my head. "What…" I interrupted her with a wave of the hand. "That's a story for a little while later."

I took a seat at the couch where Trisha was already sitting. Sapphira sat up a bit to make room for Yusuf to sit. After sitting, Yusuf eyed me as if to say, "This is your queue to talk."

"Okay, well. Where should I begin?"

"How about that castle place?" suggested Trisha.

Yusuf twisted his facial expressions into a look of extreme discomfort. "I don't think we should talk of that. How about you talk about your journey back?"

"Then you're going to be really missing some cool parts."

"Fine. Tell us a little about the castle."

I smiled. "Now we can have a complete story. I learned at the castle of three terrorist attacks about to take place today. One would take place in Driftveil City, one in Black City, and another in some sleepy little town."

"Well, you're right on all three. Attacks took place in Driftveil City, Black City, and Accumula Town."

I frowned from thinking about it. "So I didn't warn the police soon enough."

"No."

"Who in the police did you call?" Yusuf asked.

I suddenly remembered that Yusuf didn't know of my contact. "Steven Stone is with the police and he's working with me."

Yusuf whistled. "Wow. To think that you have the former champion of Hoenn working for you."

"Yeah. We're friends from way back. He always agrees with me which means I always agree with him, so we got along quite well."

"What's he even doing in Unova?"

"Political consultation. He's serving as the official representative of Hoenn. But he's working with the police now to stop the terrorists. Or at least, he was."

"Was?"

"Yeah. After the attacks, I tried to contact him twice. Both times, he never picked up. That has me concerned. I think something's happened to him."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. That's why I said 'something'."

Yusuf started waving his hands. "Okay, okay, okay. So another mystery to solve. After you contacted the police, what happened?"

"Well, latios flew me and lucario to Driftveil City so that we could stop the terrorist agent working there. We managed to catch up with the agent at the marketplace, but he blew it up." I held up my arms. "These injuries I got from the tiny bits of metal shrapnel." Next, I gestured to my head. "This I got from the big piece of metal shrapnel."

"Can't aura guardians create shields from Aura to protect them from damage?" asked Yusuf.

"They can?" Trisha inquired with a tone of surprise in her voice.

"Yes, we can." I replied. "But I didn't want to attract undue attention to myself. Then again, when compared to the alternative that I faced, creating the aura shield might have been better."

"What alternative?" Sapphira now inquired.

"Well, I ended up in the hospital and I kind of lost my portal device."

Trisha gasped while Yusuf and Sapphira looked ignorant. "What are you talking about?"

"I own – or used to own – a device that allows me to travel to the reverse world. And it was taken from me at the hospital."

Sapphira looked completely confused while Yusuf shook his head from sheer amazement. "Awesome. A device that can transport you to the reverse world. Where did you acquire such a device?"

My mind shot back to where I had acquired the device. In my mind, lucario shook his head from disapproval. "Don't tell him. He shouldn't know about that right now." I agreed.

"Uh, that's a story for another time."

I heard Trisha growl under her breath, "Another mystery."

Thankfully, Yusuf returned to the original conversation. "So you obviously escaped the hospital."

"Yes. But not before meeting a terrorist agent. I injured him, but I don't think anyone there knows who he is."

"It sounds like these terrorists have agents undercover everywhere."

"And that's the end of my story." My mind recalled what Yusuf had told me earlier. "So, what did you find?"

Yusuf and Sapphira both looked at Trisha and her computer. She got the point that she was the one to explain and said, "Oh, well. I was looking around for more information and I decided to see if there were any connections between those twelve people on the timeline. And I found out that all twelve of them had met in the same room fifteen years ago. So I dug a little deeper to find out why they were meeting and stumbled on something that you might find very interesting."

"Well, what was it?"

"Um, all twelve were serving jury duty on a court case in the Sinnoh Region. There was this big corruption case fifteen years ago in Veilstone City. Apparently, some big mob was ferrying illegal drugs, making lots of money, staying safe through blackmail, and there were many cops on the take. No one could stop them. Then out of the blue, this mystery trainer rushes in and crushes the entire mob. The leaders get off on bail and the underlings were convicted to life sentences in prison. But the mystery trainer was captured and tried in a court case and that's where our twelve famous people of Unova met up. They served as the jury."

"Who was the mystery trainer?"

"Oh, um, well. He…the mystery trainer…he was…" Trisha coughed as though trying to clear his throat. "He was an assassin."

The words hit me and lucario both like sledgehammers to the chests. "What? An assassin was held on trial?"

"Yes. And that's not all. He singlehandedly crushed the biggest mob in Veilstone City and the jury convicted him guilty of being an illegal vigilante. He was sentenced to a life sentence in prison. That's when things get interesting."

"How so?"

"He died in prison six months ago, exactly one week before the terrorist attacks started."

Both lucario and I shared feelings of shock and sadness at the news. "What was the name of the assassin?"

"Terran. Did you know him?"

I shook my head. "No. I joined the order thirteen years ago. That court case was well before my time."

"Oh, well. Now you know. And it just so happens that everyone of the jury is now dead."

"What do you mean?"

"The three attacks that just took place killed them. Walt Sherman, the head judge of the court of Black City and White Forest was killed in the shooting that took place in Black City's famous battle center. He was also the foreman of the jury fifteen years ago. Don wiser, the mayor of Accumula Town, was killed in one of the car bomb attacks. Virginia Chester was in the marketplace when the explosion took place. She was carried to the hospital and died before they arrived."

My mind reeled at the news until I remembered what the timekeeper had just told me. Out loud, I said, "He said that revenge was driving the terrorist attacks."

"Who said?"

"Someone I…know." I met the eyes of Yusuf to let him know that I was talking about the timekeeper. He nodded with understanding. I continued, "He said that the terrorists were attacking out of revenge. Maybe its revenge for that court case."

Trisha mulled that over. "Maybe. But something doesn't make sense: the terrorists started attacking six months ago. Some of the jury people were already dead."

Yusuf took the stage. "Actually, it makes sense about some of the attacks. All twelve had great accomplishments in Unova. Two built famous bridges. Some were mayors of Unova cities. One was the police commissioner of Oppelucid City. If the terrorists couldn't attack the people directly, they could easily attack their accomplishments. Tubeline Bridge was the first major terrorist attack four months ago. Two months ago, a bus bombing occurred on Marvelous Bridge. They've attacked Castelia City and Accumula Town, where mayors served. They attacked Oppelucid City and managed to kill the police commissioner."

Trisha stood up with a light of understanding in her eyes. "Now I see. Remember what you told me Malik. You said it didn't matter to terrorists how many people got killed. Every attack is a theatric show, meant to scare the populace."

I nodded. "Except in this case, they're not just trying to scare the populace. They're striking out against the people who served on jury duty that convicted an assassin to a life sentence in prison for doing the right thing. It's all an act of revenge. But that's what is confusing me. If you look at the terrorists from that perspective, it looks like they favor the assassins and are taking their revenge against the people who are responsible for their downfall. However, we do know that in the first two months of attacks, they specifically targeted former assassins. All one hundred and thirty-four assassins were murdered. When looked at from that perspective, it sounds like someone who really hates the assassins. It makes no sense."

Yusuf raised a finger, suggesting an idea. "What if they're two groups like what happened in Hoenn? Maybe one group favored the assassins and the other group hated them and they're fighting it out."

I shook my head. "No. What happened in Hoenn was totally different. Those two groups fought each other and the Region was caught in the middle. Here, if they were two different groups, then why are they fighting together against the Region and not against each other?"

Trisha sat down and held her head. "This is too confusing. We're looking for someone who favors the assassins yet also hates them."

"It looks like it. That's a big disconnect and it makes no sense."

"Maybe whoever's in charge changed their ways. Went from hating assassins to avenging them."

"If that were the case, then we're looking for a psychopath. No. Whoever's in charge is calculated, coordinated, and he had the same reasons for terrorism six months ago as he had four months ago. The only question is who could it be?"

Silence filled the room as we each thought about that. Trisha went to working on her computer; Sapphira took repeated sips of her lemonade until she was out. Lucario and I traded thoughts and ideas, but none matched what we were looking for. Suddenly, Trisha exclaimed, "Hey. You might all want to look at this."

"Did you find something?" I asked, hoping for a breakthrough to this mystery.

"No. I'm connected to a TV channel. They're streaming live video from Castelia City."

"And why is that interesting?"

Trisha growled at me. "Well, look for yourself." She pivoted the computer on her laptop, facing the screen towards us. The images on the screen were definitely of Castelia City. I recognized Main Street and a few of the alleyways. What caught me off guard were the crowds of people. Tens of thousands of citizens, must have been more than one hundred thousand were rallied together and were marching through the streets. Thousands held up banners or signs. Yusuf moaned silently as he watched the images. "Oh no. It's John Samuel's movement. The latest attacks must have pushed them over the edge."

"What are they doing?" I asked.

"They're marching on the regional government headquarters in Castelia City. This is their ace in the deck. They're here in full force to demand that the government enact martial law and take more aggressive measures to protect the citizens from terrorist attacks."

Trisha positioned the laptop on the coffee table and we all sat together at the other couch, watching the terrifying scenes take place. Even lucario, despite his extreme distaste for human politics, watched the scene silently from behind the couch. The camera at the other end zoomed in on a person wearing a navy blue suit walking at the head of the crowd. "Who's that?" I asked.

"That's John Samuels himself."

"He looks like he's going to be sick, or is it just me?"

"You're right." Agreed Trisha. "He does look like he's going to be sick."

"Probably never dreamed that he would be leading a crowd of more than one hundred thousand people in a march on the government to demand martial law be enacted and enforced in the Region. I'd be sickly too in his position."

4:30:15

John Samuels studied his watch for the millionth time it felt like. It hardly felt like 4:30 to him, but the watch never lied. John Samuels was feeling a lot of things at that moment walking at the head of a crowd of people. His heart weighed heavily inside his chest. In fact, a lot of things were weighing heavily at that moment. His feet and legs, felt heavier and he had already stumbled more than once. What hurt more was the fact that people behind immediately helped him back up, encouraging him to continue. He wanted to scream until his lungs died. He wanted to yell, "Don't make me go forward! We will all be dead when this day ends! I'm working for the terrorists!" More than once, he resisted the temptation to vomit right there in the middle of the street.

Up ahead, the rectangular cube building of the regional government headquarters rose higher and higher in John's vision. All of a sudden, many people ran ahead, crossed under the four lane highway. They carried giant poles, tripods, coils of wires, and great big speakers. At the regional government headquarters, on the steps leading to the entrance, they started setting up. Poles and tripods were erected on the steps and on the pavement before the steps where people would stand. Long coils of wires connected the speakers together and powered them up with electricity created in a nearby generator. Atop the stairs in front of the entrance doorways, a pole held a wireless microphone for John to speak to the crowd with. John's stomach twisted into a knot. The stage was set.

Slowly, steadily, the crowd crossed under the four lane highway. People started to leak into the exits and filled up the four lane highway. Any cars coming were immediately stopped and despite the drivers being upset, the crowd adamantly remained in place. Eventually, even the upset drivers remained to watch the speech.

John reached the steps and stopped. After a deep breath and exhale, and resisting the temptation to vomit, he slowly walked up the stairs. His legs shook, forcing him to spend extra time on each step. David walked alongside him to help. Every now and again, he reached out to support his good friend. Unbidden, a single tear forced its way out of John's right eye. John felt it trickle down his cheek, tracing a path on his face down to his jawbone. There, it hung to his skin for what felt like an eternity before letting go. John stopped on the next to last step and to watch the teardrop fall. It glided down with the greatest of ease through the air. At the concrete, it splashed and formed a perfectly round circle of moisture on the step. John stared at the circle for a long time. Could it have been that that teardrop represented his dream of a free and safe Unova? It was so beautiful, but all it did was form a circle of moisture on the surface, to be smashed by people's feet and evaporated by the sun. David looked concerned at John's sudden pause. "What is it? Are you okay?"

John looked up to his friend's face. "I'm fine." Inside to himself, he quickly swore, "May that be the last lie I ever tell a friend." With shaking steps, John cleared the last step and arrived at the pole with the wireless microphone. With equally trembling hands, he took hold of the microphone and removed it from the pole. His fingers found the on/off switch on the side and clicked it into the 'on' position. One last deep breath and a mental review of the speech, and then he spoke. "People of Unova!" The crowd cheered and applauded his opening. Sickly feelings gnawed at John's stomach. I can't believe I'm actually doing this, he thought to himself. With another deep breath, he continued. "People of Unova! Today is the day long awaited by all of you! Though this is the darkest day in our history, may I remind you that it is always darkest right before the dawn! And this is that dawn! Today is the dawn of a new era in Unova! For too long have we been held captive by fear from the barbarous acts of the terrorists! Too long have we lived each and every day, uncertain if whether or not we would have an unwelcome visit by death itself! But I stand here now to tell you that this dawn will bring about a bright new future, a future where we will not live in fear of anything! It will be a day of safety, of security, and the end of the reign of terror!" The crowd cheered louder than before. All eyes looked up to him. John felt weaker with every word he spoke, as though the lies coming from his mouth were poison in his veins. In a dramatic move, he pointed to the helicopters with news cameras circling overhead. "Look there! This event is being broadcasted to the entire world! And I guarantee you; the terrorists are watching this as well! Yes, they are watching this with fear in their hearts because they know that this is the end of their reign of terror! No longer will they hold us captive in the clutches of fear! No longer will they control our lives! No longer will they be allowed to prey on our fears!" The people raised up a chant with one voice. John felt the poison of his lies seeping through his veins and into his heart. Despite this, he pushed onward. "They have tried to destroy us before! The latest attacks have claimed many lives and injured many others! Lives are forever changed because of the terrorists! That cannot be helped! However, I am confident that as one united people, we will forever change the future to make it safer for our children, and for our children's children, and for all of our descendants for generations to come! Soon, the events of this day and the past six months will be nothing but bad memories, dates to memorize in History classes, and events only spoken of at the countless memorials to commemorate the dead! And here today is when we make that change! It is time for an end to this apathetic government that has refused to do all that is necessary to protect its people from the terrorists! The terrorists want us all to die, and they have made that point clear to us time and again! The most recent attacks have been testament to that! Eight car bombs in Accumula Town! Explosions at the Driftveil City Marketplace! Oh, and the somewhat prevented attack at the Black city Battle Center!" Little laughs and snickers rippled through the crowds at that last statement. John continued with more anger seeping into his voice. "The police want us to feel safe because they only lessened the attack! They think we should be proud of the fact that only thirteen people were injured, one person died, and that the terrorist took his own life with the last bullet!" Boos and shouts of protest against the police floated into the air from the mouths of the crowd. "Why should we be proud of that? That's fourteen lives that have been forever changed! But here's what concerns me: the terrorist agent was prevented from using a bomb in a suitcase that would have most certainly replaced the Black City Battle Center with a crater! And that suitcase, officials at the battle center, was smuggled in many months in advance! The terrorists have been planning this day's events long before we knew that the attacks could get any worse! They were planning to shed innocent blood, and to turn our cities into rubble! And what have the police done? Not enough, I tell you! If more aggressive defensive procedures had been taken to ensure the safety of the people months ago, we wouldn't be mourning so many dead today!" The crowd shouted its agreement. "And if the terrorists smuggled a bomb into the Black City Battle Center months ahead of the scheduled detonation, how many more bombs could be out there, just waiting for their chance to go boom? These terrorists aren't some simple criminal organization with goals and ideals that can be understood! They are killers! They are murderers! They are psychopathic madmen who will stop at nothing until we are all dead! You hear me? Until we are all dead! They won't settle for subservience! They won't settle for money! They won't even settle for all of us moving to live in a different region! They will continue until we're all dead! Now is the time for the regional government that we elected to start doing something about it! Each of them swore solemn oaths to protect the people of Unova, and now is the time for them to make good on their oaths!" The people replied with cheers of agreement. "And if they don't make good on their oaths, then it is the responsibility of us, the people of Unova, to replace the current apathetic government and replace it with one that has true regard for human life and will protect us from the terrorists! Stand with me, people of Unova! Stand united! This is the darkest day in our history, but will give rise to the dawn of a bright new day! A day of safety, security, freedom!" For freedom, we stand united against the terrorists who hope to take it away from us! For freedom, we will fight them until their wretched regime of terror ends! For freedom, we will live to see our children live in a future where they need not fear anything!" the people cheered, screamed, and chanted louder than ever. They waved banners and held up their signs. John waved his hands at the crowd and reattached the microphone to the pole. David was clapping and applauding his speech. John tried to find the hope that might exist in that moment. He had just presented a speech to the people meant to encourage them about a future where terrorists no longer existed; and that speech was written by the leader of the terrorists. John glanced down to where his teardrop had fallen on the steps. The circle of moisture had already evaporated and disappeared.

The sound of opening doors behind John alerted him and he turned around. Emerging from the regional headquarters building, ten people flanked by police officers walked out. When the people saw them, some boos and chants rose up. One man shouted, "Enact martial law!" Another shouted, "Down with apathetic government!" John stood aside for the ten delegates of the regional government council to walk through. One of them, the spokesman, walked up to the microphone and took it with both hands. "Fellow citizens of Unova!" His entrance brought zero cheers and more boos from the crowd. The delegate, unfazed by the noises of disapproval, continued. "We would like to thank Mr. John Samuels for that warm introduction. First off, I and my fellow delegates stand before you, guilty of the crimes you have spoken of. We have dishonored ourselves by refusing to enact more aggressive measures to stop the terrorists. Each of us here has indeed sworn solemn oaths to protect you, the people of Unova. And as Mr. John Samuels here has testified, we have indeed not gone far enough. We ask for a second chance, my fellow citizens of Unova. We are all citizens of this fair Region and victims of these barbaric terrorist attacks. Therefore, I declare that we will obey your wishes. I and my fellow delegates have debated long about it, and we agree with you, the people. Martial law must be enacted and enforced region-wide to ensure the safety and security of our citizens. We will do everything in our power see this crisis through to the end."

Scattered cheers arose from the crowd. Possibly, everyone was as shocked as John. Was it possible? Could all their efforts have finally worked out in the end? John looked out at the crowd. His eyes caught sight of the girl and her many friends from earlier. Was it possible that all of her work was paying off finally? No, John reminded himself. I'm still working for the terrorists. This isn't the end. This is only the entrance to the slaughterhouse for these sheep.

One of the delegates tapped him on the shoulder and whispered into his ear, "Well done Mr. Samuels. Your reward is waiting for you on the tenth floor, in the office directly in front of the elevator. I suggest you go quickly. Take the elevator on the right in the lobby." John Samuels nodded and walked inside. As he feared, this was only the gate to the slaughterhouse, and it was wide open.

He passed through the lobby and walked through to the right elevator. Once inside, he pushed the button for the tenth floor. He felt the ground shift as the elevator climbed through the shaft by cables. Soon, the tenth floor arrived and the double doors slid open. Before him, a solid wooden door greeted him. Slowly, he walked to the door and turned the handle. His palms were sweaty and his heart pounded faster. The door opened up for him and he entered. Only a single man wearing a jacket, pants, and a black t-shirt sitting in a soft comfy office chair occupied the room. Ominously, he was clapping lazily.

"Well done, Mr. Samuels."

John closed the door behind him. "Who are you?"

"You need not know that. But there are things you do deserve to know. For one, we had a great dilemma facing us. How do we get the people on the side of the pre-invasion so that there will be no resistance to the actual invasion? Many debates have taken place, trying to solve this predicament. For one, we would need a leader, someone who could be a symbol to the people. And that's where we found you. But the next dilemma: how to get you to do this willingly without anyone knowing. But everyone has a weak spot, and the high commander is quite skilled at finding those. Yours for instance was easy to find." John was beside himself with worry that gnawed endlessly at his mind. His palms sweated and his legs shook whilst his heart pumped blood faster and faster. The stranger continued. "Such a stroke of luck. You, the political poster boy of this whole thing, have a ten year old daughter in the hospital in need of an expensive operation or she'll die. And of course, being the loving daddy you are, you would do anything to help her. Even rallying the people together to support martial law, which, I'm sure that you've noticed by now, will certainly hand the reins of control of Unova to the high commander."

John couldn't stand it anymore. "Please. We had a deal. I rallied the people and you give the money that will help my daughter."

The stranger held up his hand to stop John. "Relax. The high commander is a man of his word. The money has already been sent to the hospital. Your daughter will be well soon." John breathed a deep sigh of relief. "However," the stranger continued. "the high commander is worried that your loyalties might not be as strong anymore. And you should know what happens when one's loyalties start to frail." The stranger pulled a gun out from under his jacket. "A disloyal man is a thorn in the side of any operation and must be dealt with."

"No. We had a deal…"

"The deal was to save your daughter. We have faithfully kept that. But the deal said nothing about you. Don't worry. The high commander might have compassion and let your daughter live when all is said and done. It's the least he can do for someone who helped him gain supremacy over the world."

"How do I know that you helped my daughter? You could be lying."

"Oh please. You shouldn't be the one to speak to me about lying. This day, you have told more lies to your closest friends than you've ever told anyone before in your life. You have only to trust that the high commander has indeed kept his promise. But you, unfortunately, are expendable."

John made a rush for the door, but the gun had already fired. He felt a sharp stab to the back of his neck and felt around. His hands met the cold metal of a needle. He tried to cry out, but his voice felt constricted and his vocal cords couldn't make any noise. John hammered the door with his fist, but no one on the outside reacted. Finally, he gave up and let his body fall limp to the floor. His mind slipped away, and darkness took over.

The terrorist agent stood up and activated his personal illusion caster. Within a second or two, he held the same appearance as Mr. John Samuels. He rapped the wall behind him twice. The wall swung out and two soldiers emerged to secure the corpse in the room. As they passed, one of them saluted and said, "Good afternoon Agent JS."

"No." replied the agent in a voice that sounded exactly like Mr. Samuels'. "The name is Mr. Samuels. Call me John."

4:44:57

4:44:58

4:44:59

4:45:00

I stared in shock at what I had just witnessed on the computer screen. Everyone in the cottage was staring in shock. The only one not shocked was lucario, which I found out when he asked, "What is martial law master?"

"Martial law is when the police and military enforce this high security zone over a region. It involves a curfew, roadblocks, restricted communications and transportation. Normal laws are suspended for the duration of martial law. In essence, it gives the military and law enforcement full control over the lives of the people."

"That's doesn't sound good."

"Well, it is if it stops the terrorists. But I have a bad feeling about this, as though the terrorists will be able to attack despite martial law."

Trisha moaned. "Well. There go my chances of staying up past my bedtime."

Despite the seriousness of the moment, Yusuf and Sapphira both started laughing. Even I cracked a smile and lucario sent me signals of amusement. Yusuf, still laughing, stood up to clean up the lemonade glasses. While he did that, Sapphira asked, "So what do we do now?"

Both girls looked at me. I really didn't have an answer. "Well, we've sort of hit a dead end. Yusuf?"

Yusuf stepped back into the living room after setting the glasses in the kitchen. "What is it?"

"It's your turn."

"My turn for what?"

"It's your turn to contribute something to this mystery. Orion contributed information. Trisha decrypted the data and led me to you. Now it's your turn."

"I told you about the castle. Doesn't that count as my contribution?"

I frowned. I guess it did. Surprisingly, Sapphira raised her hand. "Excuse me, but I might have something. Seeing John Samuels reminded me of it."

I looked at Yusuf. "You're saved." Then to Sapphira: "What is it?"

"Well, I'm not sure you knew this, but John Samuels has a daughter. She and I used to be great friends growing up before the accident."

"Accident? What accident?"

"Well, she and I were playing when she broke her leg. Landed her in the hospital, but for some reason, the doctors kept her there for some other reason. Then I moved to Icirrus City with my foster parents and never saw her again. But I remember Mr. Samuels visiting her with a friend of his. He was another adult man. I listened in on part of the conversation. Mr. Samuels told his friend to watch over his daughter and that he was leaving to do something."

"How long ago was this?"

"About a year ago, before I met Yusuf in Icirrus City." I noticed Sapphira glance at Yusuf, who nodded at her.

"So you're saying that we should talk to Mr. Samuels' friend?"

"Yeah. The hospital is in Oppelucid City. That's where we need to go."

"Hold on." Exclaimed Trisha. "It could take days of travel to get all the way to Oppelucid City."

"Not if we take the river." I suggested. "Yusuf, do you happen to have a boat?"

He shook his head. But Sapphira piped up. "I do. But it's slow. It could take hours for us just to reach Tubeline Bridge."

"What if we used latios to drag the boat?" suggested Yusuf. "It would be much faster."

"I don't like that idea. It would mean exposing latios in Unova in broad daylight. We want to keep a low profile."

"We can still do that. Latios has the power to bend light around him, make him invisible. So long as we keep away from shadows, we'll be fine. All people will see is a speeding boat. Nothing unusual."

I stood up and snapped my fingers. "Now that's how you can contribute Yusuf. I like that level headed thinking. Let's get moving then."

"But the river is full of riled up pokemon." Said Sapphira worriedly.

"Don't worry. Lucario will take the prow and protect us. We'll be fine. So let's move already." I and lucario were first out the door followed by latios, Trisha with Yusuf's computer, and finally Yusuf supporting Sapphira. Together, we moved down to the riverbank where I saw the rowboat tied to a tree. Behind me, I heard Sapphira mumble in Yusuf's ear something about thinking she would never get into that boat ever again. Yusuf replied back, saying something about it all being fine and that he would protect her no matter what. Trisha next to me glanced back and frowned. "Anything the matter?" I asked.

"I don't know. I've never seen Yusuf so concerned about another person before. I mean, it's cool to see him with a girl, but it looks like he's very concerned about her."

"Is that a problem?"

"I don't know. Do you remember what Sapphira said earlier? How Yusuf was very caring and unusually kind? I wonder what she meant by that."

"Maybe he's taken a liking to Sapphira. Come on, didn't Orion do unusually nice things for you when you two were together?"

"I guess you may be right."

"So don't worry about it. Let's just focus on getting to Oppelucid City." Though I said it out loud, I mentally agreed with Trisha. Yusuf was very kind to Sapphira. Maybe I was just seeing things, but it still looked…mysterious.

However, I did need to focus on getting to Oppelucid City. Soon, we were all loaded up in the boat, and the rope that used to swing from the tree was tied around latios' "waist". Within seconds, latios was dragging the boat through the water with impressive speed. True to Yusuf's word, latios bent the light around him, making him completely invisible during the journey. With lucario watching out on the prow, and predictable travel ahead, I shouted my estimate to the rest of the occupants. "Arrival time at Oppelucid City Hospital should be around 6 P.M. Best grab some rest on the way there." I didn't have long to wait for my suggestion to be taken seriously, as both Sapphira and Trisha dropped off to sleep.

4:56:57

4:56:58

4:56:59

4:57:00

Mr. John Samuels walked into the conference room where the ten delegates of the regional government were seated and waiting. One closest to the double doors greeted Mr. Samuels to the room. A spare chair was fetched and John joined the delegates at the tables, ready to hear the status report.

Delegate one: "Police forces are already moving to enforce martial law. Road blocks have been set up at increments and vehicle check points as well. We should have roads and highways completely cleared by 10 P.M."

Delegate two: "That's good. I have just finished talking with the mercenary generals. They have already begun moving their soldiers to control the country sides, and are preparing to move into the cities where they will back up their police counterparts. Police commissioners and chiefs are welcoming the extra assistance."

Delegate three: "Of course they are." The rest of the delegates laughed at that.

Delegate two: "Do we know yet of the people and their response to this?"

Delegate three: "Given that many followed Mr. John Samuels, then the population doesn't mind the increased security."

John: "That's true. And so long as I am involved in these efforts to enforce martial law, they will be subservient."

Delegate four: "Do we know yet the timeline for the next phase of the plan?"

Delegate one: "Patience my fellow delegate. After martial law is firmly established, we will move forward with the next phase of the plan."

Delegate two: "And that should be in two hours. Then the invasion will begin."

Delegate three: "Has naval commander Deiderich been briefed on the invasion plans?"

Delegate one: "Naval commander Deiderich has been briefed again and again. And all of his units are in position for the invasion. With his forces providing the naval and aerial arms of the invasion and the mercenaries providing the surface forces, all of Unova will be ours."

Delegate five: "There is one concern which we should address. What do we do when the other regions react to our sudden invasion?"

Delegate one: "The high commander has already passed down orders as to what must be done. At seven, the famous football game in Nimbasa City is set to begin. It's all sold out; as people want to prove to us freedom fighters that they don't care what we do."

Delegate two: "But they will?"

Delegate one: "Oh yes. You see, the high commander came up with the suggestion that the football game should be the perfect backdrop for the world's biggest hostage crisis. The other regions will not dare react then. They already know that we will kill whoever we want. They wouldn't dare make a move if they knew that so many people at the football game would be harmed."

Delegate three: "I like that plan."

Delegate four: "Agreed. We will crush any resistance that stands in our way."

Delegate one: "Smile my fellow delegates. We're are about to be treated to lives like kings when this is over. Tonight, Unova will be ours. Soon, the rest of the world will fall."

4:59:57

4:59:58

4:59:59

5:00:00


	14. Chapter 14

The following takes place between 5 P.M. and 6 P.M.

Pain. He could feel nothing but pain. It felt like pain filled his entire being, every crevice, every skin cell. Pain had become the new normal, making comfort feel alien. He racked his mind, trying to remember his past life, but all his mind could find was pain. Pain held a steady and unending grip over his consciousness. He inwardly begged for it to stop while at the same time wanting it to continue so that he wouldn't have to feel the alien sensations of comfort.

Orion raised his head as best he could. The cold prison cell was still the same. Bandages, soaked in a liquid that stung like billions of beedrills covered most his entire body. When his torturers had brought the mirrors in for him to gaze upon his disfigured body, he could hardly see any wounds. Instead, his body looked almost entirely wrapped in white garments like a mummy. But that hardly helped in easing the pain that filled his entire body.

The torturers had just finished with electrical shocks into his body using too little voltage to stop his heart, but enough to cause horrendous pain. Through each shock, it felt like his blood, bones, and organs were on fire. His heart was pumping so hard, he thought it would soon burst like a bubble.

After Dracous' visit, the torturers had been kind enough to lash him to a rack rather than let him hang on chains. When they had first let him down from the chains, circulation had rushed back into his arms and legs like a torrent. Trillions of invisible needles throughout his body stabbed deep into him, he thought he would scream. This pain continued to when they placed him on the rack, which was little more than a solid wood frame with a hollow inside, much like a doorframe. They strapped his arms and legs to the frame and let him lie there to contemplate, as they said, his impending doom. Unfortunately, the pain was far too great for him to think about anything else.

Orion had lost all sense of time. The time he was captured felt like it was years ago. Repeatedly during the torture, he had blacked out, further distorting his sense of time. Had it been days since the last torture session, or weeks? Orion didn't know. What point was there in it? He was still captured, being tortured, and without any hope of rescue. By now, Orion had truly given up hope of being rescued. When you had been held captive and tortured for days or weeks, then all hope of rescue is gone.

The door to the cell opened, but all Orion could do was try to bend his head forward to see who had entered. The voice was confirmation enough. "How are we doing Mr. Orion?" Dracous.

Orion tried to move his mouth, but it felt like his vocal cords were gone. He hadn't tasted any moisture since they had captured him, and his throat was completely dry. Dracous walked over and leaned over the rack where Orion was lashed. This time, Orion could barely move an inch in any direction, not just from the restraints, but also from the torture. Orion's only good eye swiveled around until it met Dracous' face. Inside, Orion fought back the feelings of pain to conjure up thoughts of his hatred for Dracous. Dracous simply stood there with a smile on his face as he studied the damage done to Orion. "My, my, my." He said in mock sadness. "Those torturers know how to use those tools after all."

Orion found himself trying to mentally shout at Dracous. "Well, of course they know how to use those tools. You probably trained them how to…" His concentration slipped and all he could feel was pain again.

Dracous lightly patted Orion's left hand, making it sting and burn. "Listen Orion. I am prepared to give you water and food and proper medical treatment if only you give me the information I want. Otherwise, I'll be forced to resort to more…drastic measures. And believe me, you don't want that."

If Orion really wanted to, he could have either nodded or shook his head. Instead, he refused to do neither. Seconds passed as Dracous looked for a response, but saw none. He frowned and sighed. "I really didn't want to come to this." He reached down and Orion heard a metallic click. All of a sudden, the rack swung until Orion was nearly right side up again. The movement forced his body to move and create more pain feelings that invaded his mind. Next, Dracous snapped his fingers and the door opened. Two guards with a person wearing a cloth sack over the head entered. Dracous walked over and whipped off the cloth sack. Orion's one good eye widened and his insides went cold, despite being enthralled with pain. Only one thought surfaced through the pain. "Trisha."

Trisha struggled in the grasps of the two guards holding her. All the while, she stared openly in shock at the condition of Orion, and even tears started to fall from her eyes. "Orion! What have they done to you?" Orion wanted to respond. But no words came out. Dracous walked over to Trisha and grabbed her chin, to which Orion began thinking, "Don't you touch her you #!*% ! You let her go!" But his thoughts made no affect on what Dracous did.

Dracous smiled back at Orion. "I warned you that I would take drastic measures, and I have. You should have told me what I wanted to know, or this wouldn't happen." Dracous whirled around and punched Trisha square on the jaw. Orion's ears heard the faint sound of a crack, followed shortly by Trisha's scream. Hearing the scream hurt more than all of the torture sessions he had survived thus far. The scream echoed off of the walls and ceiling, invaded his mind and filled it with the heart wrenching sound. Orion struggled against the restraints and the pain, all the while shouting mentally, "Stop you son of a #!*% ! You leave her alone!"

Dracous turned back to him. "It's your choice. You can either give me the information I require and she goes free while you are taken proper care of. Or I will torture her right here in front of you and you will have to live with the screaming. Her blood is on your hands Orion. It's your choice if it's shed or not."

Trisha raised her head. Tears streaked her face and blood was gushing out of her mouth and nose. "Don't tell him anything Orion! Don't let him get to you by just hurting me. Whatever he wants to know, it's worth me dying to protect."

Dracous yelled, "Silence!" and whirled around again and punched her hard. The guards let go, letting Trisha fall to the ground. Dracous leaned in and kicked her hard twice on the chest and stomach. She curled up into a ball to protect herself. Dracous grabbed one of the whips off of the table. The metal pieces in the leather cords were still dripping from Orion's blood. This blood flew out and hit Orion's face as Dracous raised the whip to bring down the first strike on Trisha's unprotected back. Orion tried to turn his head or shut his eyes to stop looking, but Dracous noticed. He gestured to the guards, "You two. Make sure he is looking at this." The two guards rushed to either side of the rack and roughly handled Orion's head to make him look. The pain he felt from their rough handling felt like nothing when the first strike came down upon Trisha's back. The barbed points dug into her skin through the thin t-shirt that covered her. Dracous pulled them out, tearing the shirt in places and causing blood to flow. Then he struck again and again and again. Within seconds, Trisha's shirt was torn completely off of her back and her backside was flayed beyond the point of recognition. Blood – Trisha's blood – covered the floor at Dracous' feet. Trisha screamed until her lungs couldn't handle it anymore. Then she cried until she diminished her supply of tears. Finally, she dropped off into unconsciousness from the pain. Even then, Dracous continued to swing and strike at her back. The whip tore through the skin, muscle, all the way down to the bone. Nearly all of Trisha's ribs were fully visible in the light of the chamber. And still, the blood kept flowing. Orion couldn't turn away. All he could do was watch without being able to help.

Dracous finally looked up from his bloody work and locked gazes with Orion. "Do you want me to continue? There's still some life left in her. I'll whip the rest of it out of her unless you tell me what I want to know." Silence. "You think I won't do it? You think after everything I've done that I won't hesitate a second to flay the life out of her body? Think back Orion. For six months, you fought my soldiers, saw what they had done, witnessed the atrocities of war! You think after all of that, that I won't hesitate but a second to kill your girlfriend? Tell me what you know or I will kill her!" Silence. Dracous raised the whip for another strike. "Very well. This one goes for her head! I will whip until her skull splits and her brains scatter across the floor!"

He did not know where, but Orion suddenly found the strength and the air to whisper words. These would be his only words, so he picked them out carefully. "Wait." He whispered. Dracous stopped mid swing and swung the whip away from Trisha's head. He looked at Orion with a steady gaze. "Continue."

Orion was shedding tears now. "Don't hurt her. I'll tell you what you want to know."

Dracous smiled. "Excellent. You've made a wise decision Orion. You two, take Miss Weaver to where she can receive proper treatment. And tell the doctors that they can begin working on Mr. Orion here."

The two soldiers saluted before rushing to take Trisha's arms and drag her out of the room, still shedding blood. Soon after she was dragged out, doctors rushed in the care for Orion's wounds. The bandages that harmed more than healed were carefully removed and replaced with a cool gel that stung but slowly set to work of clearing out infections. Fresh bandages without any harming liquids covered the wounds. Deep gashes were stitched and bandaged. Bruises received cool gel that Orion suspected would heal them slowly. Half a dozen different medications, including pain killers and infection fighters, filled the IV tubes and penetrated the body. Within minutes, Orion couldn't feel any pain. Whenever something or someone touched him, his skin felt numb and fuzzy to anyone's touch. Another doctor fed him copious amounts of food and water. Even though Orion felt he could consume bodacious amounts, the doctors restricted him to a minute diet.

At long last, Orion was slowly and carefully released from the rack and set on his chest upon a gurney, which the doctors wheeled out along with the IV, heart monitor, and other equipment. They wheeled him through halls and corridors until they entered a large white room which obviously served as the medical base of the base. Orion found himself rolled backwards against the wall. With his good eye, he studied the surroundings. To the left, Dracous entered, accompanied by soldiers pushing two tables. One table held a TV screen, and the second held three red jars.

The high commander stood in front of Orion while the two tables stood on either side of him. With a finger, he switched on the TV screen to his left. With a blink, the TV screen showed a prison cell, with Trisha chained to a wall and a soldier with a gun pressed against her temple. Dracous stared at Orion. "I will make this simple Orion. I will ask you three questions. If you fail to answer as soon as I like, one red jar will fall to the ground. Once all three jars are smashed, Trisha will die. Do you understand?" Orion slowly nodded.

Dracous smiled again. "Good. Question one: where is The Vault?"

Orion thought hard about the question. He knew the answer, but hesitance plagued his mind. Should he tell Dracous, despite Trisha? Orion looked at Dracous worriedly, who frowned and slowly pushed one of the red jars off the table. It fell through the air and crashed against the floor with a sound that terrified Orion. He stared at Dracous in shock. Only a few seconds had passed since the question had been asked. Dracous said with a voice as cold as naked steel in winter, "One down, two to go. Now tell me. Where is The Vault?"

Orion answered with a voice, constricted from lack of water, "The Vault lies in the northeastern quadrant of Unova, in the mountains north of Lacunosa Town."

Dracous smiled again. "Good. Question two: have you ventured inside The Vault?"

Orion shook his head as best as he could. "No. No. I've never been inside The Vault."

"Good. Question three: How well do you know Trisha?"

Orion stared in shock at the unexpected question. "I…I know her better than anyone."

Dracous slowly pushed another red jar off the table. It shattered into millions of pieces on the floor. "Wrong answer. Now tell me, how well do you know her?"

Orion struggled on the bed, but his soreness and pain wouldn't allow it. "You #!*% ! What more do you want? What do you want me to say?"

"I want you tell me how well you know Trisha." Dracous said as he picked up the final red jar.

Tears he didn't know existed started streaming out of Orion's good eye. "Please. Please don't. I know Trisha better than anyone. I love her. Please."

Seconds slowly ticked by as Orion waited for Dracous. Finally, Dracous spoke with that same cold voice. "Wrong answer." He dropped the red jar. Time itself seemed to slow down as Orion gazed at the red jar fall through the air. Perhaps he could mentally stop it from shattering on the ground. Orion focused all of his willpower and mind on that red jar falling through the air, but to no avail. It hit the ground and broke up. Shards flew across the floor and Orion stared in shock. His mind repulsed at what his eye had just witnessed and his ears had heard. Dracous touched a communication device in his ear and commanded, "Kill the girl."

Orion tried not to look, but his eye was drawn to the TV screen. The soldier answered the communiqué and pulled the trigger. Trisha screamed once before slumping down against the wall. Time stopped dead. Orion's world stopped spinning. What had just happened? His mind rebelled against the possibility that Trisha was dead. That was impossible, he told himself.

Dracous ordered Orion taken to a prison cell and turned around to leave. Orion fought through the pain and the soreness to yell, "You son of a #!*% , I will kill you someday! Your torture will not kill me! I will survive because I'm going to kill you!" Contained to his gurney, Orion couldn't do much more than that. The doctors started to wheel him out of the medical bay, while Orion shouted death threats at Dracous' turned back. After Orion had disappeared from the medical bay, he turned and looked back. He could tell where the gurney had gone by the trail of moisture left on the ground from Orion's tears. So, he really did love her.

Thinking about this, Dracous hardly noticed the soldier who entered the room behind him. The soldier saluted. "Sir. Awaiting orders."

Dracous turned to the soldier. "Inform the soldiers at Trisha's cell to search the corpse. They should find a device on her that is still on. Tell them to remove it and switch it off and bring it to me immediately."

The soldier saluted again. "Yes sir. Any further orders?"

"Negative. Return to your duties." The soldier walked off and out of the room. Dracous contemplated what he had just seen. The charade was over, and what a marvelous charade it was. Even though Professor Zenger had built twelve illusion-casters for the mission already underway, he had constructed a thirteenth as a prototype. Retrieving someone to wear the device while being tortured and eventually shot was even easier. Agent Beta was planning on slipping information to the outside before getting caught. All Dracous had to do was promise forgiveness for her crimes if only she acted like Trisha in front of Orion. By the time the torture had begun, Orion was fooled and the agent wasn't able to disclose her true identity. The entire charade was as much to punish the treacherous agent as it was to gain information. Two pidoves with one stone. Now Dracous had the location of The Vault, Orion's spirit was broken, and the treacherous agent was dead as an example to everyone else who wanted to step out of line. More like three or four pidoves with one stone. Dracous walked through the fortress with a slight smirk on his features. The final pieces were moving in the game, closer and closer to checkmate.

5:24:57

5:24:58

5:24:59

5:25:00

"…confirmed that the government has indeed established martial law. If you look behind me, you see the highway between Nimbasa City and Driftveil Drawbridge where traffic has completely stopped as police forces and mercenary soldiers have established road blocks and vehicle checking points. Similar road blocks and vehicle checks have been established everywhere throughout the region. So far, the public have received the martial law and increased security with a sense of optimism. Even though transportation and communications across the region have suffered the most from the increased security, the public finally see the regional government doing something to stop the terrorist attacks…"

Steven couldn't help but watch the scenes on the TV from where he was hanging with his wrists bound in steel shackles and hoisted to the ceiling. He tried closing his eyes, but his ears caught every word coming from the TV. He listened to the news tell of how the Region fell, yet no one knew it yet. Among the sounds from the TV, the sound of the door opening forced Steven to open his eyes to look at who had just entered. It was Ray, that godforsaken piece of filth. Anger rose to the surface of Steven's mind, along with all the thoughts of what he would to Ray if only he could.

Ray walked over to the TV and watched the scenes taking place. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Steven refused to reply to that question, so Ray continued. "You know, it's taken a long time for this day to arrive. Years of planning, training, until finally this day arrived."

"What happened to you?" asked Steven. "Why did you throw in your lot with these terrorists?"

Ray turned to face Steven. "You of all people wouldn't understand, even if I told you."

"So what are you even fighting for? What's the point to all these people who you've killed?"

"We don't want to kill people, but we will if it achieves our goals. Those deaths are nothing but collateral damage, a necessary evil."

"But it's still evil. So why do you do it?"

"Because what these freedom fighters are doing, it's the most amazing thing ever."

Steven spat on the ground in front of ray. Ray hardly moved. "You call yourselves freedom fighters, but I know the truth. You are a bunch of murderers and psychopathic madmen who need to be locked up in an insane asylum." This time, Ray didn't respond. "What happened to you? I remember when we were the best of friends in Hoenn. I can't believe that you were a terrorist even then."

"Well, believe it."

Steven couldn't believe it. He mentally calculated the years he had known Ray. "So these terrorists had been planning these attacks for three years?"

"Longer than that. The operation was large when I joined up. The events that have taken place in the last six months are the results of years, possibly decades of planning."

"You don't even know?"

"No. And I don't need to. What matters now is what happens today. What's being shown on that TV screen right now is that results of every year of planning. We've won Steven, you have to realize that. Checkmate."

"It's not checkmate yet, not while there are still people who will continue to fight."

"Oh yes, your friend the assassin. Do you even know what the assassins were? Has he told you anything?"

"He's told me enough."

"No, he hasn't. The assassins were an order that stood in the shadows against the regional governments. And because of that resistance, they are now extinct, or nearly. Your friend is the last one, and he too will be dead soon." Steven remained silent. "You see, your assassin friend may be fighting the freedom fighters, but he'll just as quickly turn on the regional governments to avenge his fallen order. He has no other life. If say the freedom fighters are defeated in the end, the regional governments won't hesitate a second to lock him up as well. To them, he is a dangerous individual who deserves a life sentence in a jail cell, possibly the death penalty. It's happened before, where assassins like him was sentenced to life in jail or worse."

"But he fights. And that's all that matters."

Ray shook his head. "No Steven. You don't get it. One man and his pokemon, no matter how powerful, cannot possibly stop us now. We have control over Unova, and soon the entire world. You're just going to have to accept that fact." Ray turned to leave.

"Ray," started Steven. "you and I may have our differences. You may have reasons for joining these freedom fighters. But it's wrong. People have died at your hands. Their blood will stain your hands for eternity. But you don't have to live like that. You don't owe them anything."

Ray glanced over at the TV screen. "You'd best keep watching. Watch your world fall to us. The world is changing all around you. It would be a shame if you missed it." Ray turned the door knob on the door and exited.

Steven's shoulders slumped and he studied the TV screen. "…news on that. The regional government just released a statement, saying that the enacting and enforcement of martial law is going forward will bring about a new world for Unova. We here in the news room agree with this assessment, the world is changing."

5:34:57

5:34:58

5:34:59

5:35:00

With latios flying at full speed, we sped through the water. It was the strangest sight I had ever seen. We sped forward like a speedboat without a motor and with a rope at the prow hanging taut in the air in front of us to where only we knew where an invisible legendary pokemon flew. Add to that, the lucario sitting at the prow scanning around with Aura. I was surprised we hadn't attracted any attention as of yet.

I started to relax on the side of the boat, with my arms sitting atop the sides. Yusuf sat in the boat in front of me, gazing around on the search for danger. I glanced over at the stern of the boat where the two girls were fast asleep with Sapphira's head resting on Trisha's shoulder. I looked back at Yusuf. "So Yusuf. Sapphira. What's her story?"

At the question, Yusuf broke eye contact with the surrounding landscape and looked at the girl in question. "She's an orphan. Her mom died giving birth to her. Her dad died a little later."

I frowned and looked back at Sapphira. Her head slipped off of Trisha's shoulder and she readjusted it while still sleeping. "Tough life for someone so little."

Yusuf nodded and frowned as well. "Yeah. She's been living in the orphanage in Oppelucid City for a long time. I guess that's when she met Mr. Samuel's daughter."

I turned my attention back on Yusuf. "You think? Don't you know?"

He shook his head. "Not really. I didn't even know Mr. Samuels had a daughter, much less Sapphira knew her."

"So what happened next in her life?"

"Well, she got adopted by this family from Icirrus City. As she said, that was about a year ago. But her foster parents are also dead."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah. Her foster dad was at Tubeline Bridge four months ago when the terrorists hit it. Sapphira wasn't really affected. Not surprised considering that they were unrelated. But her foster mom took it extremely hard. Apparently, the two were madly in love, so when her husband died, the foster mom went off the deep end."

"How so?"

"She got into drinking just about every night. Drank herself into oblivion to the point where she didn't even know who she was or even who Sapphira was." Yusuf stopped talking and stared at the bottom of the boat.

I studied his sad look and looked again at Sapphira. "Did it get…violent?"

Yusuf slowly nodded without looking up. "Yeah. Sapphira's told me stories of particularly bad nights when her foster mom drank too much and vented anger on her. She was too frightened to go to the police, and all of her bruises are on her back where she keeps them hidden, so nobody ever knew. It was bad."

I looked back at Yusuf, shocked at what I had just heard. I never realized that Sapphira had such a past. "What happened next?"

Yusuf looked up. "Well, drinking didn't bring any security or comfort to the foster mom, so she committed suicide. Sapphira called me, asking if she could live with me. She didn't want to go back to an orphanage, especially not after what happened. I said yes and here she is."

"Quite a long journey from Icirrus City to your cottage, don't you think?"

"Yes. But she has eelektross. Those two have been together since the beginning. They're like family to each other."

"So you and Sapphira…"

Yusuf got what I was implying. "No. We're not together. I'm just a friend who's willing to sleep on the couch while she sleeps on the bed."

I nodded. "Good. Trisha would probably freak."

Yusuf chuckled and looked over at his sister. "I guess she would freak at that. For some reason, I never figured Trisha to be one to have a boyfriend like Orion."

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, she's just so to herself and focused all the time on her studies that I didn't think she had time for a boyfriend, much less a hotshot trainer like Orion."

"Yeah. It's unanimous everywhere."

Yusuf smiled and returned to scanning the surrounding territory. "So this order of assassins you are a part of. What exactly does it do?"

I leaned back on the side of the boat. "We're basically an ancient order devoted to fighting crime and injustice and corruption wherever it can be found."

"So why did you stay hidden from the people?"

I shrugged. "I guess we didn't really want the attention. The strategy basically was, if your opponent couldn't see you, they couldn't understand you, which meant they couldn't outsmart you. Meanwhile with the police, you can see them, understand them, and thus, outsmart them."

"You can outsmart the police?"

"Absolutely. The police are very easy to maneuver around."

"You'd probably make a great bad guy."

I laughed. "You know, Orion told me the same thing back in Sinnoh."

"Really? What did you two do back in Sinnoh?"

"Well, we worked together to kick Team Galactic out of political office."

"I'd heard of Team Galactic taking over Sinnoh politically, but not that they were completely gone."

"That's because they're not. There is still a remnant left. I suspect they'll be trouble again soon."

"So why did you and Orion not deal with them then once and for all?"

I shrugged again. "I don't know. I guess we felt that once they were out of political office, they weren't much of a threat anymore."

"Sounds like a waste."

"It does. But Orion made the call and I'll respect it."

"Why'd Orion make the call and not you?"

I grinned sheepishly. "Because I was giving the police the slip at the time. They don't trust strangers wearing black robes and jumping off rooftops."

Yusuf laughed out loud, causing an irritated Trisha to mutter in her sleep. "That's the funniest thing I've heard. So you were running from the police after kicking Team Galactic out of political office and Orion made the call to leave it at that. Wow. Did you really have black robes?"

I grinned and nodded. "Yes. Wore them this morning. You should have seen Trisha's expression when she saw them."

"I can just imagine it. I'm surprised Trisha's warmed up to you in such short time. She's not used to dealing with strangers."

"I suspect that she's still confused and scared from all that's happened."

"Probably. So let me get this all straightened out. You and Orion met in Sinnoh and kicked Team Galactic out of office. Orion moves here to Unova to beat the league, date my sister, and fight terrorists. Where do you come in now?"

"Well, Orion called me up. Terrorists were already hitting Sinnoh at the time, but I couldn't stop them. He told me to come to Unova to help him, thus confirming my theory that the terrorists have their roots in this region. So here I am."

"But there's got to be a better reason than that."

"Well yes. Orion had collected ten months worth of data and he wanted me to solve things from it."

"Why you?"

"Because I'm really good at getting into the minds of my enemies. And you can see what I've solved so far from the information."

"Well, you and Trisha."

"Yes. These terrorists want more than to just terrorize. They want something."

"Hmm. What about Steven Stone? When did you two meet?"

"Oh, him? We met in Sinnoh long before he was champion. I met him on Iron Island where he was looking for rare stones. Challenged him to a battle and of course, I won. He's been my friend ever since. So when I heard that he too was in Unova, I decided to call him up and let him in on my side."

"Cool. So you're well connected for a stranger who jumps off rooftops?"

"I guess." My gaze drifted before locking onto the invisible latios heaving on the rope. "So how exactly does one obtain a legendary pokemon?"

Yusuf shrugged. "I don't know. Luck I suppose. Isn't that how it is with every legendary pokemon?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Well, I don't know either. Looking back, I figure it was because latios chose me."

"What happened?"

"Well, I was traveling through Kanto and I encountered Latios on Mt. Silver. Latios led me to the top where he accepted a battle. So we battled and at the end, latios agreed to let me catch him. The rest is history."

I smirked. "That's a pretty short story for such an amazing event."

"Well, do you have a better one? What about you and lucario?"

At this, lucario shifted his head ever so slightly and looked at me in the corner of his eye, waiting for my reply. "I…I met lucario when I was really young, about five years old. He and I have been together ever since, training, learning, and traveling. Not a long story."

"But you said earlier that that was about fifteen years. Of course that's a long story. Did you two become assassins together?"

"Yeah. We entered the order when I was seven. We liked it there. It was…" I glanced over at lucario. "…interesting."

"I'll bet. So how exactly are things divided up there in the order? Are there ranks, like in the military?"

"I guess. We entered as apprentices. Apprentices are usually under one or two masters. However, in our case, we had many tutors. As we advanced in training, both physically and mentally, we would pass trials to become what are called lord assassins. At that stage, we were eligible to teach other apprentices. Unfortunately, at the time, the order had diminished to the point where we had no more students. It was all lord assassins. Higher than the lord assassins is the assassin king, a monarch to lead the order. But it's been centuries since the last assassin king and now there will be no more."

"Can't that be you? No one is around to resist you." Yusuf said with a smirk. "You could crown yourself this minute."

"Yeah, but king over what? The order is finished, gone. There will be no king. Besides…" I said with a stretch of my limbs. "…life is more exciting when I'm not sitting on a throne."

Yusuf smiled. "Yeah. Those who get to spend their time fighting and training have a lot more fun than any king. So are you still a lord assassin?"

I nodded. "Yup, though there's no one eligible around anymore to recognize it. But I still consider myself one. Ties to the past and whatnot."

Yusuf nodded. "I can understand that."

"So do you miss the days when you were conquering every league in the world?"

Yusuf shook his head. "Nope. I'm content with my new life. Keeping to myself and researching stuff is my interest."

"Ah yes. Trisha told me that you have a major interest in legends. What kind of legends do you research?"

For some odd reason, Yusuf's eyes sparkled with keen interest as he explained. "Mostly the origins of Regions. Every Region has its own unique tales. For instance, Sinnoh has the space-time legend; Hoenn has the ancient pokemon, etc. Anyway, that's what I research here in Unova. I've come across many interesting tales involving all sorts of people. Some even involve Aura Guardians like you."

I nodded. "I'm sure. I hear this Region has a lot of history with Aura Guardians."

Yusuf nodded enthusiastically. "It does. It really does. Some of the tales are quite fascinating, much like the fairy tales involving heroes and villains or damsels in distress, that sort of thing mostly."

"Yeah. Us Aura Guardians, we have to stop those villains and save them damsels…"

"Master!" Lucario shouted in my mind. Despite fifteen years with the pokemon, the sudden mental shouts still made me wince from surprise.

"What is it lucario?"

"Tubeline Bridge is up ahead." I looked up and indeed, there lay the massive steel structure of Tubeline Bridge about a mile ahead.

"What of it?"

"The bridge and the highways on both sides are covered in people with serious mentalities and powerful pokemon. I think it has something to do with that martial law."

"You might be right." I responded mentally before turning my attention on Yusuf. "We need to turn off and get to the river bank right now."

Yusuf looked confused. "Why? Something wrong?"

"Lucario's seen multiple people and pokemon guarding Tubeline Bridge and the highways. I think it has something to do with martial law, so we need to get off the river before they see us and suspect us of being the enemy."

"Right." Yusuf nodded and shouted at latios, "Latios, take us to the riverbank." A cry of assent from the air signaled latios' agreement and the boat started turning to the right towards the riverbank.

Yusuf's shout had awakened Sapphira. She opened her eyes and scanned the surrounding scene. "What's going on?"

Yusuf supplied the answer first. "We're trying to avoid the martial law soldiers at Tubeline Bridge, so we're hitting land early."

"And you need to wake up Trisha so that we can start moving as soon as we hit land." I said, already prepared to jump out and fight the possible battles ahead.

Sapphira nodded and started shaking Trisha, yelling, "Trisha, wake up!"

Trisha opened her eyes slowly to see Sapphira's face with a look of urgency. "What's going on? Are we already there?"

Sapphira shook her head. "No. We can't make it to Tubeline Bridge because of the martial law officers. So we're getting off the river and walking the rest of the way to the city. We need to get going."

Trisha rubbed her eyes. "Okay." She yawned. "Let's get going."

A few seconds later, the boat hit landfall. I jumped out and started pulling the boat further onto shore. Lucario jumped over me and into the trees, taking up a defensive position looking for trouble. Yusuf jumped out and started to untie the rope around Latios while the girls clambered out. Sapphira, because of her bad ankle, tripped on the side of the boat and fell face-first in the sand. Yusuf looked, noticed Sapphira's fall, and immediately abandoned latios to rush to her side. With strong arms, Yusuf eased Sapphira up and gave her his shoulder to lean on. Unknown to Trisha, I glimpsed her suspicious look that she directed at the couple. With Sapphira on his shoulder, Yusuf pulled a pokeball out and withdrew latios, letting the rope drop with the power of gravity. "Okay. Let's get going." He said.

I glanced back at the group. Two males, two females, one with a bad ankle, and only one lucario to serve as protector. "Yusuf. Do you have another pokemon who can guard us?"

"Yeah, sure."From his awkward position of supporting Sapphira, he reached for another pokeball and threw it. The white light that emerged transformed into a proud, cat/mouse-like pokemon standing on its hind legs. Its body was covered in a cream colored fur, its eyes pierced the surroundings like twin daggers, and the fur over its forepaws extended longer and hung limp like whips ready to be cracked. It called with a meow-like call, "Mienshaoo!"

Yusuf stowed the pokeball. "Mienshao, help lucario guard us." Mienshao nodded and jumped into the trees next to lucario. Yusuf gave me a look of confidence. "She'll protect us. I've trained her since coming to the Unova Region. I rely on her."

I nodded. "That's good enough for me. Let's go. It might take longer to get to Oppelucid City, but we can still make it going through the forest. ETA: forty-five minutes with possible delays." Everybody else nodded. With the two pokemon in the trees above, we started on our journey through the woods of Unova towards Oppelucid City.

5:50:57

5:50:58

5:50:59

5:51:00

The camera scope broke the surface of the water. The slender pole withstood the current of the river while holding onto the tiny camera that scanned the surrounding shores. Unbeknownst to anyone else, the unmanned and remote controlled observation submarine sitting on the riverbed watched the surrounding shores on behalf of the freedom fighter navy. Meanwhile, the sub's sonar could scan the river for intruders. It's cylindrical shape deflected sonar, and the fact that it continued to sit on the riverbed undisturbed meant no one ever saw its movements while it observed the river.

Above the water, the camera pivoted, looking first at Tubeline Bridge, where dozens of mercenaries and police officers had established road blocks and vehicle checking points. Two boats belonging to the mercenaries sat underneath the bridge where the soldiers faithfully checked for possible explosives or made sure no one established any. Pivoting, the camera focused on the shore where the mysterious surface craft had landed and the four individuals and unknown number of pokemon had disembarked. The fishing boat was the same that had passed by earlier, but heading downstream that time. And that time, only one individual road it. This time, four occupied the craft and had disembarked. The camera zoomed in at the commands of the controller located elsewhere. It took quick snapshots of each person and pokemon present and silently slipped beneath the water to be reunited with the unseen vessel.

On the flagship in the water south of Castelia City, priority reports flowed in from naval intelligence and observation. The controller at the station opened the file and studied several photographs taken from an observation stealth sub in the Western River, close to Tubeline Bridge. The photos depicted four people, two pokemon, and fishing boat that weren't allowed out on the river with martial law enacted. The controller stood up and looked around the bridge. Finding naval commander Deiderich, he shouted, "Naval commander. You may want to see this."

Naval commander Deiderich dropped what he was doing – reviewing status reports from the different naval divisions located throughout the Region – and walked over to the station. "What is it?"

"It's this sir." The controller sat down and pointed to the photos on his screen. "These were taken from an observation sub in the Western River, less than a mile downriver from Tubeline Bridge."

Naval commander leaned down and studied the pictures. Only one caught his eye. "Controller, I'm giving you a priority report from the high commander. Give me copies of these photos and delete these pictures from every system immediately."

The controller blanched but silently obeyed. With a few clicks, the photos were copied over to a flash drive and the originals were deleted forever from every system and from the memory banks of the observation sub. "It's done sir. May I ask why I did that?" The controller asked, handing the flash drive to Deiderich.

Deiderich took the flash drive. "No. Maintain your current status and carry on with your duties."

"Yes sir."  
>With the controller taken care of, naval commander Deiderich rushed out of the room and accessed an isolated communications terminal. With the keypad on his end, he entered the necessary clearance codes. Within seconds, the screen blinked and the high commander's face showed up. The naval commander saluted to the camera that depicted his face on the screen on the high commander's end. "High commander. I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time."<p>

"No, you didn't naval commander. What is it?"

"Sir, I just received photos from an observation sub in the Western River. One was of the primary target from this morning sir."

The high commander leaned in with interest sparkling in his eyes. "Really? Are you certain?"

The naval commander nodded emphatically. "Yes sir, I'm certain. It was him. He was with three other individuals that haven't been identified yet."

"Where are the photos right now?"

"I did as you ordered. I have the only copies on a flash drive in my current possession and the originals have been deleted from every system and memory bank. It's as though they never existed."

"Good. Send the photos to me along with all information about them."

"Sir, I can tell you now that they were taken by an observation sub less than a mile south of Tubeline Bridge."

"That's good. Send me the photos."

"Yes sir." Naval commander Deiderich plugged the flash drive into one of the sockets on the communications terminal and clicked keys and buttons to initiate the transfer of the photos to the high commander, thus deleting the flash drive. "They're on their way sir."

"Good. Now carry on with your duties."

Deiderich saluted again and said, "Yes sir." The com channel was shut off.

Dracous opened the file containing the photos naval commander Deiderich had sent. The photos opened up on his screen and he quickly perused through them. Yes, it was definitely Malik. The bandages from the hospital still remained. Good boy. Draocus recognized the next one almost immediately. Trisha, Orion's girlfriend. So those two had teamed up as Shadow squad had reported. The third individual required a search through the databanks with face recognition. The results were shocking enough. Yusuf, Trisha's brother, and the one who had mysteriously disappeared. In the next photos, Dracous saw a mienshao and lucario. Lucario seemed to be doing well since he last saw him. He also wore black robes that Dracous recognized to be assassin robes. They fit him well.

The next photo made Dracous gasp. Sapphira? No, it couldn't be, he quickly thought to himself. He ran a face check through the databanks, but it came back a positive. What was Sapphira doing with Malik and the Weaver siblings? It also looked like she had hurt her ankle and was leaning on Yusuf for support. The situation seemed all too odd to Dracous. He tapped his com device and accessed the channel for Shadow Squad. After a click, he heard shadow warrior two say, "Yes sir?"

"Shadow Squad, one of my observation subs has located the primary. He is traveling on foot through the woods, last seen on the eastern shore of the Western River, less than a mile south of Tubeline Bridge."

"Roger that sir. Shall we move to intercept?"

"Yes. However, there is one individual that you must not touch."

"Which one sir?"

"It's one of the females in the party. She has a damaged ankle and is leaning on someone else for support. She must not be touched in the attack. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes sir. May we inquire as to the importance of the individual?"

"Negative. Just do your job. Also, there are more individuals with the primary this time, so proceed with caution."

"Yes sir. Shadow squad out."

"High commander out." He shut off the com device. It really didn't matter why Sapphira was with Malik. Whatever mystery that was, it could be solved at a later time. In the meantime, Malik needed to be dealt with.

5:59:57

5:59:58

5:59:59

6:00:00


	15. Chapter 15

The following takes place between 6 P.M. and 7 P.M.

"…predicted to be the biggest event in all of Unova as tickets have sold out as of 4 P.M. yesterday. As you look behind me at Nimbasa stadium, fans of both teams, the Driftveil City Bulldozers and the Oppelucid City Dragons, flood the entryways and parking lots. Many barbecue pits have been set up and the tailgate parties have officially commenced and the air is filled with the smell of smoke and cooking meat." The newsman, Samson, stood in front of Nimbasa City Stadium where the football game was set to take place.

Someone in the newsroom off camera replied, "It sounds like quite a party Samson, but tell me since we're all curious. What with all of the terrorist attacks that have taken place thus far throughout the region and in other regions as well, don't the local security forces consider it risky to have so many people gathered in one place for such an important event where a terrorist could possibly attack?"

Samson nodded that he had heard the question. "That is a good question and I'll tell you, I'm somewhat curious myself. The regional government asked for this game to take place as previously planned and there has been extra security. In fact, with martial law now emplaced and enforced, hundreds, possibly thousands of local militias and mercenaries have gathered to offer their protective services here. Throughout the game, every stairway through the grandstands will hold more security than there's ever been at any previous game. I'm talking just one stairway holding more guards than all the guards of last year's big game. We're talking a lot of security, but I'm still skeptical. You may not be able to see it behind me, but the mood of the place is somewhat heightened as people wait for the possible terrorist attack that the security hasn't prepared for."

"Does anyone believe that there will be a terrorist attack?"

"Well, there are arguments on both sides about a possible terrorist attack. Security officers here have offered their comments, saying that a terrorist attack could take place, but that it would be easily prevented. The mercenaries on the other hand have a more optimistic view, saying that no terrorist would dare attack a target that holds this much security. Meanwhile, opinions from the people are all across the board. I can tell you this that whiles this game is going, even though it will be fun to watch both here and at home, everyone here will be very conscious of the fact that an attack could take place at any moment."

"All right, thank you very much Samson." Samson nodded one more time before the TV screen switched to the newsroom of Tranquil 4 News. The newsman behind the desk tended some papers before him. "So, tonight, the big game starts. Driftveil City Bulldozers hoping to win some redemption against the Oppelucid City Dragons in today's football game. Opening ceremonies are scheduled to start 6:30 and the starting kick at 7:00. Remember, you can watch on your TV, laptop, or on your smart phone. Don't forget to keep up with the action and receive constant live updates from today's game with the ninety-nine cent app from Unova Sports, the home of everything sports. And now it's on to the weather with our weatherwoman Delilah Hillendale. Delilah?"

The screen switched to a newswoman wearing cream colored pants and business suit standing in front of a weather map of Unova. "Thank you. Well tonight, it will be a little chillier than usual with lows reaching down into the low forties, high fifties. For the football game tonight, we should be seeing clear skies with not a cloud in the sky, so that'll be good. Winds coming out of the north. Not too rough, about seven to nine miles per hour. So cold with a little breeze tonight across Unova." The map started moving and zoomed in on the north western quadrant, where Icirrus City and Mistralton City were highlighted in red. "Now we are seeing some rainfall developing here to the east of Mistralton City. It'll just graze the city, so air travel won't be affected much, but the rain will swing up and bring a slight drizzle to Icirrus City before passing through. Not too bad, but probably a time to have an umbrella. Now as we move down towards the north eastern quadrant of Unova…" The map started to move there, now highlighting Lacunosa Town, Undella Town, and Black City in red. "…we'll be seeing quite a bit of cloud cover, especially over Lacunosa Town, and that's expected to stay well into tomorrow, so probably won't be the best day for sunbathing on the beaches of Undella. Moving down to the south eastern quadrant…" Again, the map moved to the prescribed location. "we've been watching a very serious thunderstorm developing off the coast and should hit landfall tonight and roll through the region." She gestured with her arm across the map, tracing the predicted path of the storm through Nuvema Town, grazing Accumula Town, and ripping through Striaton City and Nacrene City. "The thunderstorm will be delivering some pounding rain on its way to the center of Unova, but is expected to die out after hitting Castelia City. The storm is expected to hit Nuvema Town at around 1 in the morning with severe thunder and lightning, so make sure that your shutters are tightly closed and your windows locked because it's going to be brutal. Nacrene City and Striaton City will be hit at about the same time, around 2:45, maybe before, in the morning, and the storm should be hitting Castelia City at around 4:15 this morning. It will be a very large storm and we'll be keeping a close eye on that…"

Steven let the words of the news report fade out into the background and refocused his mind on not falling asleep. By now, the steel shackles were cutting off all circulation to his hands and his arms felt sore and without sensation. All this time, he fought the temptation to close his eyes and grab some sleep. To Steven, it was important to maintain wakefulness and alertness. However, as time continued on its never ending way, that task grew increasingly difficult.

The door opened with a loud creak, giving Steven cause to heighten his senses. Ray entered, renewing thoughts of hatred in Steven's mind. Why the #!*% did he have to keep visiting like this? "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to bring you food and drink. We need you alive for when you'll be the centerpiece of the victory parade through the streets of Castelia."

"And what if I don't eat?"

"Then you'll be starving during the victory parade. Unova will be ours by the end of the day, so you should last."

"What are you planning?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you that."

"Ray. Think reasonably. What do you think these terrorists will do when they take over? They will subjugate the people into slavery, making them serve their wicked desires. Women will be raped to satisfy their desires. Children slaughtered for entertainment. Men forced to serve masters who rule with cruelty and fear. They will be tyrants, ruling by the power of a whip and fear. What justice is there in that?"

"You would never understand the grand plans the high commander has for the world. He will make it a better place."

"What the bloody #!*% does your high commander know about a better world? He is responsible for the deaths of over a thousand people and will be responsible for the murders, enslavement, and rapes of millions. What just and righteous commander would ever do that? Only a dictator and cruel despot would allow the malicious and atrocious acts that his followers will willingly commit."

Ray turned to leave. "I guess its better that you look starved and malnourished for the victory parade."

"Blast it Ray, listen to me! Think about what you are doing! Think about what you're high commander and your fellow terrorists will do when the world is under their control. Are you prepared to have the blood of millions stain your hands forever? Are you prepared to defend the actions of your fellow traitors as they rape women and murder children? Are you prepared to stand by their actions and still claim that your cause is just and righteous?"

"Nothing you say will change my mind."

"Tell me that you are truly prepared to stand by and defend the atrocities that you will commit and I will accept that you are too far gone to save."

As seconds passed by, only the sound of the reports from the TV could be heard. Then Ray faced Steven with eyes full of defiance. "I am prepared to defend all that is necessary to bring about the marvelous plan that the high commander has set in motion."

Steven bowed his head. "Then you are indeed too far gone to save. I was wrong to think that I could change your mind. You are obviously not the Ray I knew from the old days in Hoenn. That Ray would have sacrificed his life to save people in distress. That Ray would have stood up against the terrorists. And you know what? The Ray I know stood up to bullies in middle school to protect the new girl who was being hit. And how would I know that? Because that Ray was my friend and he told me that story while we were sitting around a campfire on the shore. What happened to him? Tell me."

Ray turned away and started to leave. Prior to exiting, he stopped. Then with a cold voice, he said, "The Ray you know was a fool, thinking he could live a life of happiness. But that's just not possible, not in this world."

"That's not the story I heard from your wife before she died. She said that you two were as happy as could be, even though you couldn't have children. You still put her first in your life and protected her against whatever you possibly could. When I was visiting her in the hospital, she spoke praises about you, of how happy you were. Even in times of stress and in between jobs, you were still happy and you did everything you could to make her happy. She really appreciated what you did for her in school protecting her from bullies that were three times your size."

Ray was silent. Again, only the news from the TV filled the room. Then Ray opened the door and left. Steven slumped in his awkward position and refocused on staying awake; all the while hoping that something he said had gotten to Ray.

Ray walked through the corridors of the mercenary base and found his quarters. Opening the door, he entered and sat on his bed. A single drawer sat beside his bed. He opened the top drawer and withdrew a small framed photograph. The picture of a woman hung in the oval frame. The woman gazed off in the distance with a smile on her face, her eyes filled with joy and her cheeks crimson. Ray remembered the picture well. He had hired a photographer to capture every image of her face while she was looking at a faraway banner asking her to marry him. This one before him was the best of the lot, as she realized what the banner was saying and her whole face lit up. It almost seemed to glow, even in the photograph.

He stared at the picture, trying to resurrect every precious memory of her, right from when they met in middle school because of some bullies, to the days in high school and college, to their marriage and their happy years together. Yes, they had been happy together, until the cancer. A tumor had grown in her left lung where the surgeons couldn't reach it and had slowly shut her body down. Even in those days of constant visits to the hospital and multiple friend gatherings wishing for her to get well, he had stayed by her side. But then it was over. In the end, the doctors couldn't do anything. She had died with a smile on her face and a peaceful look on her features.

An odd sensation started to spread from Ray's right eye. He felt with his hand and felt warm moisture. He realized that it was a tear and that more kept coming. He sat there silently on the bed looking at the photograph while tears dripped from his face and onto the floor. What would Lydia think of him today? Would she be proud? Would she be happy? Ray couldn't bear the thought of Lydia not being happy. He had always tried in those days to keep her happy, to maintain a smile on her face, to make sure she had something every day to laugh about.

The memory reminded him of something. With trembling hands, he reached into the top drawer and withdrew and leather bound notebook and opened up the aged pages. Ink from a pen still spelled out the ten years of their marriage from his wife's mind. In this diary, she had kept track of everything her husband had done to make her laugh that day. Sometimes, the lists were long, filling Ray with pride that he had accomplished his mission. Some were short, making Ray feel regret that he couldn't have done more. Nearing the end, the pen scribbles grew messier and messier, compliments to being bound to a hospital bed with devices and wires attached to her arm. But strangely, none of the lists from the hospital days were ever short. In fact, some spanned page after page for just one day. Ray had never realized that he had done that much to make sure they remained happy. But apparently from Lydia's perspective, he had done more than anyone could have.

He snapped the notebook shut, not bearing to read on. How could he, while he was here? Steven was right. How could he just stand by and let the atrocities continue unabated. He brought the photograph close and kissed the face upon it, whispering, "Thank you Lydia."

6:14:57

6:14:58

6:14:59

6:15:00

The shady regions of the forest gave way to the sunlit grassy hills as we continued on our way to Oppelucid City. However, the sun was starting to set in the West and a chilly wind from the north created shivers that ran through our bodies. Now, lucario and mienshao walked alongside us with their heads on swivels and their eyes scanning for possible danger. As we topped another hill, I observed the skyline of Oppelucid City rising in the sky several miles ahead beyond another forested area. We still had several more hills to traverse.

Looking back, I made sure that everyone was keeping up with the group. With Sapphira's injury, it was slow going. She leaned on Yusuf for support, but it was still slow going. Plus, Trisha wasn't used to long distance hikes like this one, so the effects were making travel hard for her too. This was going to be difficult.

Opting to give the others a chance to rest, I yelled, "Hey. Let's stop here and rest a moment before moving on."

Upon hearing the news, Trisha almost immediately collapsed to the ground with a sigh of relief. Lucario sent a signal of amusement at her lack of energy and athleticism, which I quickly hushed up despite it being hidden, even though I too found it funny that she could be dating such a high energy person as Orion. Yusuf and Sapphira walked a little ways more before sitting down. I noticed how gingerly Yusuf set Sapphira down, as though she were made of fragile porcelain. Then Yusuf stood up and walked over to his sister, asking for food. While those two bothered with food, I decided to walk over and sit next to Sapphira. She had found a tiny blue flower growing amongst the grass and had picked it, enjoying the simple symmetry of its petals. When I sat down, she gave me a look before returning to her flower.

"So," I said, opening up the door of conversation. "this friend of yours. What's she in the hospital for?"

"Brain cancer. Shocking for someone so young. The tumor wouldn't be dangerous for a long time, but its location makes it hard for a skilled surgeon to get. There's an experimental treatment and surgery, but it's dangerous and expensive."

"I see." She was right. Brain cancer for a girl about Sapphira's age was uncommonly rare.

"She dropped into a coma last I saw her about a year ago. Then I was adopted and moved away, so I never got to see her again. I would write letters, but she never replied."

"Was it great to be adopted?"

She shrugged. "I guess. I had someone to call mom and someone to call dad. But they weren't my parents. I did like them, don't get me wrong. They were such kind people and they were so in love with each other. But there was just something missing."

I nodded and found my eyes' wandering to Sapphira's back hidden under her coat where Yusuf had told me where the bruises were.

Sapphira noticed. "You can stop staring at my back now. I guess Yusuf told you."

I looked to the ground. "I didn't mean to offend you."

"You didn't. It's just something that I don't like talking about."

"I understand. I was just curious."

"Oh. Well, there's nothing to know about. Dad died and mom went berserk several nights a week. Nothing to know."

"And yet you still call her mom even after she did that to you?"

"Well, I don't know what else to call her. She's mom."

"Do you know your real parents, who they were?"

"Only what my foster parents told me, which probably isn't reliable since they knew nothing. Some of things they said were totally crazy."

"Like what?"

"Oh, they always had something good to say about my mom, like how I was named because I inherited her sapphire blue eyes and blonde-brown hair. They always said she was pretty and that she had all the boys at her high school fawning over her."

"And what about your dad?"

"They always said nasty things about him for some reason. One story was he was some pompous jerk who happened to be captain of the football team and had a one night stand with my mom and got stuck with me. That if it wasn't for him, my mom would still be alive and they're glad he died when he did. Though how they would know how he died is beyond me. They said he died in a car crash because he was drinking too much one night at some stupid high school party."

"Well then, how do _you_ imagine you parents?"

She shrugged as she twirled the flower between her fingers. "I don't know. I always pictured my dad of having a strong devotion to duty, kind of like those military guys on TV. And my mom, I always saw her as being sweet and innocent, but brave at the same time." She dropped the flower and reached inside her shirt, pulling out a necklace. "This is the only thing I have that's left of them." I studied the necklace. The stainless steel chain held onto a pendant that looked like a piece of carved wood, with dozens of tiny flowers carved along the edges and on both sides. Every flower held tiny amounts of bright blue paint that had slowly faded away from many years. On both sides of the pendant, the word 'Sapphira' were carved in and filled with silver paint.

"That's a very pretty pendant."

She grinned and crimson rushed into her cheeks. "Thank you. My mother carved it herself before I was born. I guess they knew ahead of time what to name me and that was left for me. It's old, but I've kept it ever since I can remember."

"Thank you for showing that to me."

"You welcome." She returned the pendant to its previous position beneath her shirt. "So who are your parents?"

I stared off into the distance at Oppelucid City's skyline. "I don't know. I never knew them."

Sapphira's eyes widened with shock. "Seriously? I think everyone should have an idea of who their parents are." She looked back at Yusuf and Trisha. "Yusuf's dad is a businessman at Silph Co. and his mom is a part time nurse at a hospital."

"Well, I don't know who mine are. I don't know if they died or if they're still alive. I've looked for them but never found anything."

"That's sad. So in your assassin order, did you have any foster parents?"

I smiled at the thought. "Well, not really. Personal relationships were mostly forbidden between students and tutors, but since the order had diminished so much, we sort of threw out some rules. Some assassins were getting married, and there were relationships."

"So who were your foster parents?"

"If I had to choose, I'd have to choose Gladius and his wife."

"That's a cool name. Who was he?"

"He was the one who found me and brought me into the order. Of all the tutors, he showed the most interest in me and lucario. I guess it was because we were able to touch and control Aura. Gladius was cool, and so motivational. You couldn't spend five minutes with him without feeling encouraged."

"What about his wife?"

"Well his wife, Cameron, she was also an assassin. She was also cool, but more headstrong, almost stubborn. Gladius would say that the reason he was so motivational was because of her. Those two were a team that could take on the world."

"Cool. So what happened to them?"

I bowed my head and studied the grass filled ground. "Gladius died and his wife disappeared."

Sapphira also bowed her head. "I see. I'm so sorry. How did it happen?"

"There was a nearby volcano where a pokemon was rampaging, destroying local villages and towns, and whatnot. Anyway, Gladius took a group of assassins to combat the pokemon and protect the people. They battled it, but in the midst of the battle, Gladius died. Ten other assassins saw it happen. They returned after defeating the pokemon without Gladius. People started asking what happened, and they said that Gladius died and that if they had bought anything back, it wouldn't be much. Cameron took it especially hard and ran away. Never saw or heard of her again."

Sapphira was silent throughout the tale. She picked a new blue flower and started fiddling with its petals. "I'm sorry. I guess we're both in the same boat having lost our parents and foster parents."

"Yeah." I looked at my watch. 6:23 P.M. The darkness of night was already creeping slowly across the sky in pursuit of the retreating sun. Darkness filled the Eastern sky while waves of different shades of blue until meeting the artistry to the West. I looked off in that direction, studying the beautiful array of colors. Orange and pink clouds danced around each other as the sun slowly set. Sapphira leaned over to look at the dazzling sunset. "Wow." She whispered. "That's so beautiful."

"Yeah." I said. Rarely did I have a chance to watch the sunsets. But watching one now seemed to make time slow down. i found myself wanting the sun to sit still right there for eternity just so I could take in the beauty. Finally, I stood up. "We had best get moving." I helped lift Sapphira up and offered my shoulder for support. She took it and I called out behind me, "Hey guys. Let's get moving. I've got Sapphira, so let's go."

Yusuf and Trisha stopped whatever it was they were doing and we were back on the move towards the distant city, with the skyline as a target.

Agent Delta dialed the number and the phone made the call. Within seconds, the communication line to the agents in Castelia City was open. "Who is this?" asked the agent on the other end.

"This is Agent Delta. The high commander informed me that you would need me for a mission."

"What are your jobs within the freedom fighters Agent Delta?"

"Assassination and public affairs."

"Good. Then the high commander is right. We do need you for an important mission. At seven, I want you on the helicopters to Nimbasa Stadium. We are about to make a statement to the world that Unova is under our control and that they shouldn't intervene. Are you up to the task?"

"Yes sir. I'm properly trained in it."

"Good. Then you will be with the advance battalion at Nimbasa Stadium and you will deliver the address to the world that they should not intervene in what happens today. We'll be watching."

"Yes sir. Agent Delta out." The communication channel cut off. Agent Delta started preparing his things while mentally planning a speech with which to address the world. It would have to be one with utter seriousness to convey the message that the freedom fighters were serious about what they were doing. All he had to do was write a speech.

6:26:57

6:26:58

6:26:59

6:27:00

Unbidden, Steven's eyes closed and his mind started to drift into sleep. How odd it was that while he was fighting the terrorists, he had no time to sleep. But now that he was imprisoned by them, he had all the time in the world. So he felt like he could excuse himself for grabbing a little sleep now. The news from the TV was now a drone in the background, like having a fly buzzing near his ear; irritating, but bearable.

The news didn't surprise him. It was exactly what he came to expect from Tranquil 4 news. The news people reported stories about the last terrorist attacks, martial law, and the big football game tonight. It never ceased to amaze Steven that the government would order the football continue, even if it was meant to boost morale. Now that he knew that the terrorists were using martial law to gain control, the football game was just a catastrophe waiting to happen. He just knew it. If only he could break out and reach a phone so that he could call the police chief.

The door opened and Steven opened his eyes to focus on the person who had just entered. Ray. Now what, Steven asked himself. And why was he carrying that massive backpack with him? Indeed, Ray was carrying a massive backpack that looked filled to the bursting point with miscellaneous items. "What do you want Ray? I have some sleep to catch up on."

Ray dropped is bag and rushed over with a key in his hand to unlock the steel shackles above Steven's head. The key unlocked them with a metallic click and Steven felt his arms drop. The blood, held back so long by the shackles, rushed back into his arms, producing millions of pins and needles that paralyzed Steven's use of his hands. He studied Ray hurry about, checking out the door for possible intruders and rushing back to his bag. "What are you doing Ray?"

"I'm busting you out. What does it look like I'm doing? Here, you'll need these." From the bag, Ray produced a steel box that he placed on the floor in front of Steven. Opening it, he revealed to Steven six pokeballs. "In this special box, they're under permanent lockdown. Take them out before you can use them."

"But why are you breaking me out?" asked Steven as he reclaimed his pokemon, miniaturizing each pokeball before attaching it to his belt.

"I thought long and hard about what you said and I realized that you were right. There are a lot of innocent people out there who are just like Lydia back in middle school. I…I just can't be one of the bullies."

Steven smiled and slapped Ray on the back reassuringly. "You made the right choice. Now give me a phone so that I can call the police chief and let him know of the situation."

"You can't. There's no one on the outside that you can trust."

"What do you mean? There has to be someone."

"There isn't. Believe me, I know. The freedom fighters – I mean, the terrorists – have worked long and hard to make sure that no one gets in the way of the operation. Most of the police chiefs and commissioners in the region have been replaced by puppets who obey the high commander."

"You cannot be serious." Steven looked absolutely dumbstruck.

"I am serious. You can't trust hardly anyone. The police chief in Castelia City was replaced today a few hours ago, along with the members of the regional government council."

"What!" Steven didn't mean to shout the question, but what Ray had just said sounded too off the charts to be reality.

Ray irritatingly said, "Ssh. You want them to catch us both. I promise you, there's no one else in this division who would like to spring both of out of jail. Yes, the regional government's been replaced. Why do you think they bowed so easily to martial law? The real regional government wouldn't have abided by the requests of the citizens; they've been so dead set against martial law."

"Where is the real regional government?"

"Dead most likely. The whole region's been crippled politically and security-wise."

"So that was the plan of the terrorists? Cripple the region from within and seize control in one fell swoop?"

"Yeah. For years, they've been establishing their little puppets throughout the region as police chiefs, commissioners, security officers, etc. Next, they replaced the regional government in time for them to enact martial law. Mercenary armies from all over the region would assist in martial law, which the puppets in the police would gladly accept."

"So the whole region's there's now."

"Well, not quite. If it was, then that doesn't explain their current actions."

"What are they doing?"

"I don't have specifics at the moment, but it looks like the mercenaries are only a first wave. I've heard talk of something called 'Second Wave' that's set to happen soon."

"How soon?"

"I don't know. But I heard mention of tonight's football game as though it had something to do with it."

Steven glanced at the TV. The pregame ceremonies had already started with announcements, fireworks, and speeches. A clock at the bottom right hand side of the screen counted down the minutes and seconds to kickoff. He looked at his watch with concern. 6:35 P.M. He silently cursed before saying, "Blast. The game's going to start in less than thirty minutes. We have to warn someone."

"But who. I told you, there's no one on the outside we can trust."

"My assassin friend. He can take care of it. Give me a phone."

Ray fumbled around looking inside each of his pockets until he found his cell phone. Steven snatched it out of his hand and quickly dialed Malik's number, but it returned with a, "no cell phone service" warning. Steven cursed again. "There's no reception out here."

"Then we need to get outside. This way." Ray picked up his bag and threw it over his shoulder. His hands no longer numb, Steven followed with two pokeballs in hand ready for quick defense. Ray opened the door and looked both ways. The hallway was completely disserted. "It's clear." He whispered back to Steven. "This way."

"So what's 'Second Wave'?" Steven whispered as they proceeded along through the empty and silent corridor.

"I don't know exactly. I think it's the official invasion, the moment when the entire region falls under the control of the terrorists, but I'm not sure."

"Then what does it have to do with the football game?"

"I don't know. All I know is that the football game is involved."

Brilliant, thought Steven to himself. But now he knew what the big operation set for today was. Today was the day when the terrorists would truly take over the region. "The mercenary informant was trying to tell me something. Was it about Second Wave?"

"Probably. I'm really not sure. All I can say is that the actions of the last six months, and ultimately the last few years at least, have lead up to this day. Down this hall. Quickly."

Steven followed Ray down another hall, up a flight of stairs, and down another hallway. From there, ray turned a corner, opened a door, proceeded up another flight of stairs to a set of double doors locked and barred. "Here's the way out. Help me with this." Steven obeyed and the two set to work trying to under the steel beam blocking the way. With much grunting and straining, the steel beam gave way to their efforts. Ray fiddled with the lock until a metallic click announced his success. "Good. Let's move." He opened the door, flooding the stairwell with the light of the outside.

Steven squinted against the glare. He lifted up Ray's phone to find reception until suddenly, a blast of fire nearly took his arm off. Ray pulled Steven down into the stairwell to dodge more blasts of flame. "What was that?" Steven shouted.

"Perimeter guards. I thought they were all out, but I guess I was wrong." Ray responded.

Steven chanced a glance up above the threshold to find the enemy. A guard with three fire-type pokemon was shouting and running their way. "Only one guard. I can handle this." Steven threw his pokeballs, summoning the forms of archeops, excadrill, and metagross. The three pokemon sprang into action against the guard's three fire-type pokemon, beating them down easily and scaring away the guard. "Clear! Let's move."

Ray and Steven ran out the doors only to find more guards incoming. Not waiting a second longer, Ray rushed off to one of the other steel buildings in the area with Steven in tow and the three pokemon following up. Ray reached the door only to find it locked. He cursed aloud before being shoved out of the way by Steven mere milliseconds before metagross broke the door down with a meteor mash. Ray and Steven rushed in to find the room full of armored cars and tanks. "You have an escape plan?" shouted Steven with dismay seeping into his voice.

"Yeah! We need a chopper to fly out with."

Steven stared hard at Ray. "Do you see a helicopter in this room? I thought you would have a map of this place in your head."

"I do. We just need a distraction. That one." Ray pointed to the far end of the room and started running. Steven followed, still tailed by his pokemon. At the far end, Steven found ray adoring a massive truck with multiple missile launchers on the back. Ray threw a pokeball, producing his rotom in normal form. "Rotom! We need a distraction." The plasma pokemon chirped and flew straight into the engine of the truck. Suddenly, the engine revved up and lights started turning on. "Good job rotom. Now do what you do best!"

The truck honked and started moving forward, slowly at first, until it picked up speed. The missile launchers on the back pivoted up and down as rotom quickly learned how to operate the systems. With a hard left turn, rotom drove the truck through the door metagross had just busted down. The truck crashed through steel wall, creating an even bigger entrance. All #!*% broke loose in a moment. Missiles started launching and flying around the complex. Some demolished whole buildings, exploded into the ground, or ignited in mid air. Even though Steven wanted to stay and watch the spectacle, Ray grabbed him. "Let's move. Rotom has a limited supply of missiles in that thing to distract the soldiers and we don't have long. We need to get moving." Steven nodded and sprinted after Ray with his pokemon while the tiny plasma pokemon created massive havoc behind them.

6:41:57

6:41:58

6:41:59

6:42:00

Less than a hundred yards from the last forested area. Finally. The skyline of Oppelucid City towered even higher into the sky with every step we took. Once past this forest, we would be inside the city limits. Excellent. I could hardly wait.

With Sapphira leaning on my shoulder for support, I chanced a quick glance back. Trisha and Yusuf were having an animated discussion – more like an argument is sounded like – about Yusuf's sudden disappearance and lack of correspondence. Lucario had chosen to take the rear while mienshao walked upfront. I returned my gaze to that direction and focused on the trees towering higher in the distance, only conquered in height by the skyscrapers of the city beyond.

"It will be nice to see Oppelucid City again." Sapphira said. "I haven't seen it in a while."

"Didn't your foster parents ever take you on trips to the city?"

"No. We didn't get many chances in the first eight months for vacation. Then after Tubeline Bridge, travel out of the city was out of the question."

"I see. I've never been to Oppelucid City."

"Well, you'll like it. It's quite interesting. There are actually two parts to the city. The Old City was built hundreds of years ago. Rather than tear it down for the modern skyscrapers, the architects decided to build the New City around it. Now the New City continues to grow while the Old City is more like a museum, with all sorts of historical attractions and whatnot. The divide between old and new is quite evident everywhere. Cars aren't allowed into the Old City. So these people started this service for tourists with zebstrika-drawn carriages. Music is also different. The Old City is accustomed to seeing performers with older musical instruments and playing older music fit for ballrooms. But the New City sees concerts with electric guitars and drums. It's quite different."

"You seem to know a lot about the city. Where was the orphanage where you stayed at?"

"In the New City. But I always snuck out to explore the city. I liked the Old City. Made me feel like one of the queens of castle days walking around her domain. Until I got caught that is."

I couldn't help but chuckle and Sapphira joined me in my laughter. "Ha ha ha. What about the New City?"

"Ah, I usually got lost there. The city keeps growing and it's so advanced. I mean, we're talking about automatic doors, automatic sinks, automatic toilet flushers, automatic chip dispensers, automatic everything. The security systems are also amazing. No criminal dares live for long in Oppelucid City. There are always four or five cameras at every corner watching everything. And they say there are thousands of layers of security over the internet and other computer systems to keep hackers out. You can make a purchase with a credit card anywhere in the city and not have to worry about identity thieves. There's a joke that runs around about the security in Oppelucid City: we'll know you committed the crime before you do."

"Well, until this morning that is."

Sapphira frowned. "Yeah. I hear a lot of people died in this morning's attacks. That's sad. Who would do that? Who would force their pokemon to use a dangerous move and destroy a train station and kill people, possibly themselves?"

I shook my head. "I don't know. But I'm going to figure it out."

Silence filled the area. Fifty yards from the trees. "Hey Malik. Can I ask you a personal question?"

I nodded. "Sure. Why not?"

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

My foot stubbed against a rock. The question hit me so un-expectantly; I lost focus for a while. Lucario sent me a sensation of amusement at the question, to which I mentally growled at him. Sometimes when he was in my head, it could be so embarrassing. "No, I don't have a girlfriend."

"Why not?"

"Well, I guess I'm too busy for it."

"Too busy saving the world to have a girlfriend?"

"Yeah. Besides, what girl would want to hang out with me? I never live in one place for long periods of time. I'm always on the move."

"I see."

"Why are you asking?"

"Oh, I just…wondered." She looked at me at the same time I looked at her. My eyes met her sapphire eyes. Those twin pools of brightest blue widened and she blushed. "Oh, I'm sorry. Was I sounding like I was being forward? I'm sorry. I was just curious." She quickly looked away with deep crimson in her cheeks. Lucario laughed heartily in the back of my mind at the embarrassing scene that had just taken place. I felt heat enter my face at the embarrassment. Lucario had good right to laugh, but why did he have to know what was going on.

"Why don't we change the…"

It was hard to tell what I felt first. Was it the shockwave or the sound of the explosion that took place right behind us? The ground shook and flames erupted behind us. I dropped to the ground, covering Sapphira with my body. Mentally, I shouted at Lucario to report. Lucario shouted back, "We're under attack master! They teleported in right above us before I could get a read."

"Roger that!" I looked up from my position on the ground and saw three hydreigons flying above. Them again? I couldn't believe it. What was so special about me that they had to keep hunting? I looked over at the site of the explosion where the smoke was clearing to reveal Lucario kneeling on the ground with an Aura shield wrapped around him. "You okay Lucario?"

"Yes master. They couldn't move fast enough to hit me."

Between me and lucario, Yusuf was also covering Trisha with his body. He looked up at me. "Friends of yours?"

"Unfortunately. We have to fight back."

"Right. Mienshao, use aura sphere." Upon command, the cat-like pokemon jumped into action, producing a sphere of blue silver energy between her paws and hurling it at one of the hydreigons. Unable to dodge, the hydreigon took the hit and fell down.

My turn. "Lucario. Give me three aura spheres and force the enemy back!" Lucario lowered the Aura shield and hurled three aura spheres at the dragons. Now all three took hits and fell back. I took another pokeball out and threw it. The fighting inferno of blaziken came out. "Blaziken, use hi-jump kick." I shouted verbally. Blaziken launched himself into the air and darted towards the enemy with one foot and leg outstretched. The foot caught one of the hydreigons on the chest. Even from my position several yards away and on the ground, I could hear the crunch of impact. Blaziken's leg, as hard as steel, acted like the impact of a battering ram, causing severe damage to the hydreigon's rib cage and throwing the dragon across the ground.

The other two dragons responded by shooting dark pulses at blaziken, who responded with lightning fast punches and kicks. The dragon struck by the hi-jump kick rose up and launched a flamethrower in our direction. Lucario jumped in the way and produced another Aura shield to deflect the flames like an umbrella. The hot flames passed on either side of us like stampeding creatures. The other two hydreigons ceased their assault on blaziken and flew into the sky and produced twin dragon pulses. With lucario busy on the defensive, I called out to blaziken, "Blaziken, use flare blitz!" Blaziken growled agreement and jumped into the sky enveloped in blue flames. The dragon pulses hit blaziken's flame-enveloped body and exploded. I could already tell that the hydreigons had the advantage over blaziken, who dropped to the ground. All his effort had done was nullify the dragon pulses.

In the corner of my eye, I saw Yusuf throw another pokeball. With a fire enveloped neck, Yusuf's typhlosion stood tall and proud on the battlefield. "Typhlosion, use overheat and make short work of these terrorists!" Typhlosion roared his agreement and opened his maw, shooting flames that scorched the grass beneath, forced the air to shimmer, and caused my cheeks to feel like they were on fire.

Upon command from its trainer, one of the hydreigons countered the super-hot flames with a dark pulse. The rings of dark energy struck the flames mid air, causing a brilliant explosion of lights and colors.

To my surprise, Sapphira started squirming beneath me and held up a pokeball of her own. "Eelektross, I need you." The electric eel pokemon flew out of the pokeball and floated above the grass. "Use wild charge." Eelektross started flying over the field and electricity crackled along its body. The charge kept building and building until the pokemon was enveloped in yellow-white lightning that crackled with a life of its own. Eelektross rushed into one of the hydreigons, transferring all of that energy into the dragon's body. The hydreigon cried out in pain and eelektross fell back to his master. Electricity still crackled along its body, damaging its user. Even I marveled at the strength of the pokemon. What strength and tenacity.

I saw my opening and shouted mentally to lucario to finish it. He jumped up into the sky and produced aura sphere after aura sphere to hurl at the foes. Each sphere of energy made contact, producing results more devastating than the last impact. Each of the hydreigons flew off one by one until all three had left. Lucario alighted on the ground with the grace of a deerling and scanned around with Aura before assuring himself that the enemy had truly left.

After I was given the all clear, I lifted myself up off Sapphira's body and helped her up as well. She brushed herself off and mumbled thanks to me before tending to eelektross's injuries. I withdrew blaziken at the same time Yusuf withdrew typhlosion. I nodded at him. "Good job."

He nodded in return. "Who were those guys?"

"A special squad of terrorists that were assigned to hunting down Orion. They were the ones who captured him this morning in Castelia City."

Trisha's eyes widened. "What. Those guys?"

"Yeah."

Trisha's face turned from shock to thermonuclear in an instant. "Well...I'm, I'm going to…I'm going to kill those guys. They took Orion!"

"I know Trisha. But there's nothing you or anyone can do right now for Orion. Just calm down while I…" A ring alerted me to my computer device on my arm. I looked at the caller I.D. with evident surprise on my face. Steven? I pushed the 'receive' button and said, "Steven. Is this really you?"

From the other end, I caught the sounds of what sounded like the inside of a helicopter, over which Steven's voice called, "Yeah!"

"What happened to you? You went MIA."

"I know. I was actually POW temporarily, but I escaped with a little help. Listen, where are you?"

"I'm nearly at Oppelucid City. Where are you?"

"I'm in a stolen helicopter heading north to you right now. Listen, I've figured out what the terrorists were planning."

"What?"

"It's been their plan from the beginning. We just never saw it. They've been working for years replacing key individuals throughout the Unova Region and setting the stage for the establishment of martial law. The terrorists are behind it all. The mercenaries were on their side all along. I can't go into detail right now, but you need to get into the city as soon as possible and rally every strong trainer you can to get ready for the coming onslaught."

"What kind of onslaught can we expect? When is it coming?"

"It's coming right now. It's called 'Second Wave' and it's happening right now. The terrorists are launching their official invasion of the Unova Region. So you need to get every trainer who can fight ready for battle or we're all dead."

The words struck me hard and sent cold shivers down my spine. Never before had I felt such fear. What was more fearful than being able to get into the head of your enemy and still being outsmarted by them? "Roger that. Get your #!*% up here ASAP. We're going to need everyone for this invasion."

"I'm already on my way. ETA: one hour."

"Roger that. I'll keep the skies clear for you."

The line disconnected and I looked at my comrades. Each one, even lucario, gave me looks of worry and concerns. Instead of waiting for the inevitable questions soon to come, I simply stated, "The terrorists have launched their invasion of the Unova Region. Soon, this whole region is going to be under their control. We need to get into Oppelucid City and rally every trainer to defend the city from the attack. If we can hold Oppelucid City, we have hope. Let's move."

Silence. No one spoke a word. I took up my previous position at Sapphira's side and supported her. Yusuf and Trisha quit their arguing and followed quickly. We entered into the last barrier of trees with lucario and mienshao casting wary looks everywhere. Within a mile of the city, but that didn't stop the cold dark feelings that lingered in my mind. Maybe, just maybe, the terrorists have won.

6:54:57

6:54:58

6:54:59

6:55:00

For Carl, it was starting out to be the best date he had ever been on with his girlfriend Kyla. The seats at the football game gave them perfect views of the field and the players. With Carl's new camera he had received last Christmas, he could zoom in o each player and take pictures of their jersey numbers clearly. With an extra large paper bowl of cheese chips to share with his girlfriend, two drinks, and the opportunity to snuggle to satisfy the creature inside his chest, Carl couldn't think how it could possibly go wrong.

Kyla's perspective was very different than from her football-fanatical boyfriend. The extra security at Nimbasa Stadium had caught them off guard. She couldn't imagine anywhere else she had been forced through two different kinds of scanners and forced to undergo a pat down just to get through the entrance. Mercenaries and police officers filled the place. Their tickets led them to aisle, where they found the stairs covered in mercenaries. The foreign, grim looking men and women watched with eyes that never stood still while their hands clutched two or three pokeballs on their vests. Still, she tried her best to have a good time. With her boyfriend, she laughed and giggled at his stupid jokes while taking measured sips of her drink and eating chips.

At 6:30 P.M., festivities had started with speeches, fireworks, a marching band, and other events that made this event more special than any other football game. Now with less than five minutes to kickoff, Carl was getting excited. This was it. The big day and the big game. With the announcements from the loudspeakers, the teams charged out into the field to roars of applause. Carl and Kyla stood up, waving their little Driftveil City Bulldozers banners along with half the stadium. Their mascot, a giant excadrill, stopped in the field directly in front of where the Oppelucid City Dragons were emerging. Resisting the efforts by the officials, the mascot stood tall as the football players of the Dragons charged at him. The two forces collided, with the excadrill mascot knocking over two Dragons before being knocked down himself by four big burly defenders. Carl cheered along with every Driftveil City Bulldozers fan in the stadium. Oh yeah, this night was off to a great start. There was no doubt it would be the Driftveil City Bulldozers taking the trophy home tonight.

The team captains went out for coin toss. The stadium cheered when the Driftveil city Bulldozers won. Another good start. The adrenaline rush throughout the stadium felt like a dam had broken asunder, letting the torrent rush through. The atmosphere felt thick and charged with excitement. Carl couldn't wait. Even Kyla was starting to loosen up about the excess security and enjoying herself.

Suddenly, the stadium lights went out all at once. The whole place got dark. In the late evening sky, very little light from the evening sun appeared over the room of the massive football stadium. Silence filled where cheering once dominated. Across the stadium, one could see the lights of flash photography and phones. Aside from that, no light filled the stadium. Even the loudspeakers had gone dead. Kyla clutched Carl's arm. In that moment, every mind asked, "What was going on."

A low droning sound, like the sound of thousands of bug pokemon, approached from all around the stadium and hovered above it. Kyla whispered in Carl's ear, "Carl, what's going on?"

Carl was almost at a loss for words. "I…I don't know. Maybe this is just part of the festivities. Something new for this year's…" He didn't finish, for the low droning sound above the stadium grew louder. A sudden rushing wind filled the stadium, carried off Carl and Kyla's banners and shoving their cheese chips to the ground. The wind swirled and rushed by at high speeds. Carl and Kyla felt all sorts of debris, banners, foods, cups, signs, and other things fly through the air and across the stadium. Kyla covered her head and ears to block out the debris and sound.

Suddenly, the lights came up again and gasps of shock could be heard from across the stadium. Five helicopters with twin propellers were _inside _the stadium, forcing the air in the stadium to spin in a vortex. Looking up, Carl saw more helicopters hovering above the stadium. A cold shock entered his heart and he could only think of one possible explanation: terrorists.

Looking back at the field, a single man stood with a wireless mike in his hand. He raised it to his mouth and spoke, "People of Unova, fellow football fans, listen well now." His voice, cold and hard as steel, came out of the loudspeakers across the stadium. "We are the freedom fighters. We fight for your freedom, and will continue to fight to the last man. We have this entire stadium surrounded, so if any of you are thinking of escaping, think again. We will not hesitate to subdue you as we've subdued the fools across the region and across the world. If any of you are thinking of fighting, know this: you are outnumbered and outgunned. We will subdue your efforts of resistance. Unova is under our control. At this very moment that I am speaking, our armies are seizing every major city in the region by land, air, and sea. There is nowhere left for you to hide from us. We are the rulers of this region. We have overcome your defenses, infiltrated your cities, and now have control over everything." Kyla started crying in Carl's shoulder. "However, you all were picked out for this important moment. You see, the high commander of the freedom fighters has special plans for each and every one of you. You don't want to die? Good. Neither do we want to kill you. But if the other regions of the world so much as make a step in our direction in the vain hopes of fighting for this region, we will kill you. And believe me, we will do it. We did not hesitate to destroy an entire building in Castelia City this morning. If that is not adequate warning enough for the other regions of the world, then perhaps they believe your lives aren't worth it, which means keeping you all alive is a waste of my time." At this, the man chuckled, a very ominous chuckle, into the microphone and out the loudspeakers. The laugh sent shivers down the spines of everyone there. "So here's how we are going to do things: you will remain in your seats. You will not make any effort to stand up and leave. If you do, you will be dealt with…harshly. My soldiers in the stands will make sure you obey the rules. Obey the rules and pray that the other regional governments value your lives, and you will live. Disobey the rules, or if the regional governments try to intervene, you will all die. Now, soldiers secure all of their pokemon and cell phones along with anything else deemed dangerous."

Both Carl and Kyla realized with evident shock on their faces that the "soldiers" the terrorist was talking about were the thousands of mercenaries throughout the grandstands. The mercenary nearest Kyla, grabbed for the pokeballs clearly clipped on her belt. She screamed and tried to move away. Carl stood up with a shout only to receive a sharp punch to the nose that knocked him out cold. His last thought floated through the murky blackness of unconsciousness. This is the worst date ever.

6:59:57

6:59:58

6:59:59

7:00:00


	16. Chapter 16

_Previously on 24_

_Unova under siege. With alarming ruthlessness, the terrorists known as the freedom fighters have attacked the region for the past six months. The Sinnoh and Hoenn regions also suffer attacks from this unknown and dangerous adversary. In the Unova Region, Orion has been captured after six months of fighting the terrorists. In the fortress headquarters of the terrorists, he meets the high commander of the terrorists, Dracous. Dracous orders Orion tortured for hours before resorting to tricking him for information about The Vault. Now with Orion's spirit broken, one of the most dangerous foes to the terrorists has been subdued and Dracous moves forward with his plans. _

_However, other individuals throughout the region take a stand against the terrorists. Malik and Trisha arrive at Yusuf's house, where they decrypt the rest of the data on the computer and meet Sapphira, an orphan friend of Yusuf's. Meeting more dead ends, Yusuf discloses the location of a castle in the mountains that could give Malik new information about the terrorists. Arriving at the castle, Malik learns that it used to be the home for Aura Guardians before an ancient war. There, he meets the timekeeper, a mysterious old man who watches a device that tracks the timeframes of crises that are set to affect the world. He tells Malik that he has to rethink his strategy for fighting the terrorists, opting to make a choice and not use total war to fight total war. He also tells him that the terrorists are driven by revenge and that three attacks are about to take place in Unova cities. Malik rushes out to warn Steven, who warns the police of the attacks. Malik arrives in Driftveil City at the sight of one of the attacks too late to stop it and is injured in the explosion that lands him in the hospital. In the hospital, he meets a terrorist agent in disguise prior to escaping with lucario and Yusuf's latios._

_He returns to Yusuf's house where Trisha has discovered something new about the terrorists' agenda. Fifteen years ago, twelve famous people of Unova marked on Orion's timeline met together in the same room as the jury to sentence an assassin for stopping the mob bosses of Veilstone City. They convict the assassin to life in prison and the assassin died in a cell exactly one week before the first terrorist attacks. All twelve jury members have been the primary focus of most attacks, either being killed in attacks or having the cities or landmarks related to them attacked. The last three attacks finished up the twelve jury members, killing the last three surviving. _

_Meanwhile, Steven Stone recruited a friend of his, Ray, to invade the mercenary base in Castelia City in search of evidence linking them to the terrorists. He finds it, but too late to realize that Ray is in fact a terrorist working with the mercenaries to stop Steven. Steven is locked up in mercenary headquarters and left there with a TV to watch the world change before him._

_In Castelia City, John Samuels has organized the largest mass demonstration known to the region and has marched it to the regional government headquarters. There, John Samuels speaks one of the most motivational speeches he has ever done calling for the regional government to enact martial law to stop the terrorists or step aside and be replaced. Unbeknownst to anyone, the terrorists have stealthily and with the help of the new illusion devices created by Professor Zenger, replaced key people throughout the region, including the regional government with their own agents. After John Samuel's speech, the regional government appeared and enacted martial law. John Samuels left to find his reward – the money to save the life of his daughter – but was killed and replaced with another agent and illusion device. At a meeting of the regional government, the fake John Samuels joined the other undercover agents to enact martial law with the help of the mercenary armies throughout the region. _

_Hitting yet more dead ends, Malik is open for any other option. Sapphira tells them that she has a friend in Oppelucid city who happens to be John Samuel's daughter. Seeing no other option, they decide to travel upriver towards Oppelucid City to try and find more answers. Less than a mile of Tubeline Bridge, they disembark to avoid the martial law officers and travel overland towards Oppelucid City. However, a hidden submarine takes pictures of them and Dracous orders the remains of Shadow Squad after them. Traveling overland, Sapphira and Malik have conversations about their pasts and make a connection from the fact that they've both lost their parents and foster parents tragically. Nearly at Oppelucid City, Shadow Squad attacks them. Outnumbered by Yusuf's, Malik's, and Sapphira's pokemon, they fall back to wait for a better chance. _

_In Castelia City, Steven escapes from mercenary headquarters with the help of a repentant Ray who tells him of something called "Second Wave," which is the terrorists' official invasion of the Unova Region. It's supposed to coincide with the big football game this evening. After avoiding the security guards, they steal a helicopter and start flying north and Steven calls Malik, telling him about "Second Wave". Malik tells the silent group and they rush the rest of the way to Oppelucid City to rally the trainers to defend against the incoming onslaught. _

_At the football game, just prior to the kickoff, the lights go off and multiple helicopters fly into the stadium and around it. The terrorist speaker tells them that they will die if the other regions of the world tried to intervene. "Second Wave" has begun._

Part 3: The Last Assassin

The following takes place between 7 P.M. and 8 P.M.

Dracous spent his valuable time toying with the alien device in his hands. Agent Delta in Driftveil City had sent it with secure transport and now Dracous held it in his hands. It was definitely Malik's. But where did he acquire such a device? A device capable of transporting one to the reverse world held a price tag beyond reckoning. The device refused to work. Dracous had tried everything he could think of short of opening it up himself to study the insides. He frowned. If he had known that this device would fall into his hands, he would have kept Professor Zenger alive a little longer for this.

A beeping from his desk. Annoyed, Dracous dropped the device on the desk and pressed a button. "Yes. What is it?"

"High commander. You wanted to know when Second Wave begun. It has sir."

"Thank you." Dracous released the button and stood up. Malik's alien device would have to wait for another day. In the mean time, generals have to oversee their battles. Walking out of his office and navigating himself through the fortress, he arrived at the central command. The circular room held more people than usual now that the invasion had begun. Every control center around the rim was occupied by trained specialists. The center table with the massive real-time map of Unova held the attention of dozens of different commanders orchestrating their forces across the region. When the high commander approached, people stepped out of the way for him.

Overlooking the table, Dracous studied the incoming information. Naval commander Deiderich's naval forces were already on the move, hitting the land at Castelia City, Nuvema Town, Undella Town, and Driftveil City. With air support from the fleet and amphibious Special Forces hitting the land, Skyarrow Bridge, Marvelous Bridge, Driftveil Drawbridge, Tubeline Bridge, and Village Bridge had all fallen. Now they had split the region effectively into three pieces. Red markers revealed naval units in the rivers north of Tubeline Bridge and Village Bridge. Air units flew across the board, providing air support for the land armies attacking the inland cities. Accumula Town had already fallen, followed shortly by Striaton City and Lacunosa Town. The small towns were always first to fall. Watching the progress of his forces, Dracous estimated that Nacrene City would fall next, followed with the cities on the Western third of Unova. At this rate, every town and city on the map would fall within the hour, possibly sooner. Dracous couldn't help but smile. If he had known this would have worked so easily, he would have necessarily waited more years to repeat these results in every other region at the same time.

One of the many commanders around the table walked up to him. After a quick salute, he said, "Sir, the mercenaries in Castelia City are reporting a breach in their security. The prisoner, Steven Stone, has escaped apparently."

Dracous waved his hand at the commander with impatience etched on his face. "Steven Stone doesn't matter. He can't do anything. How goes the invasion?"

"Sir, we're reporting fifty-five percent completion at this moment. The computer is reporting that we'll reach eighty percent completion within the hour."

"Are we meeting any major resistance?"

"Negative sir. However, agents in Oppelucid City are reporting increasing readiness among the local trainers. Fighting has already broken out, but our armies are too preoccupied with seizing the surrounding lands and cities to assist the mercenaries. We may not gain Oppelucid City in the initial invasion."

Dracous kept a tight rein on his features so as not to release any emotions for his underlings to see. Inwardly, he frowned. Oppelucid City was an important city as the gateway to the Pokemon League of the Unova Region. Any foothold of resistance against the invasion was a thorn Dracous didn't need in his side. Not to mention that Shadow Squad had alerted him to their failure to subdue Malik and his companions and they should by now be in Oppelucid City right then. Malik possessed enough knowledge to command the trainers in the city towards resisting the invasion for a long time. Then again, it was a new playing field with the knowledge of The Vault. Besides, something like this had already been taken into account. "Very well. Continue the invasion as per the original plan. Do not divert a single extra soldier to Oppelucid City until every other objective has been achieved."

"Roger that sir. And naval commander Deiderich is in Castelia City requesting an audience with you sir."

"Thank you. Carry on." The commander saluted before walking off. Dracous proceeded to the nearest communication terminal and accepted the incoming call from naval commander Deiderich. The naval commander's face appeared on the scene. "Commander," initiated Dracous. "what's your status?"

"High commander sir, we have begun the invasion of Castelia City. Naval defenses have completely fallen and our air support has control of the skies. My soldiers are right now securing the streets and crushing any resistance."

"Has any major resistance risen against your forces?"

"Negative sir. Most resistance is mainly single trainers on their own; easy to overrun."

"Good. How soon will you have control of the city?"

"Complete and unchallengeable control sir? I'd give you an hour or two. It's a large city and there are plenty of trainers with hero complexes that need to be subdued. Control of the city? We'll achieve that within the hour."

"Then you are on schedule with the rest of the invasion?"

"Yes sir. And even if the invasion falls behind schedule, so long as my naval forces maintain constant control of the rivers, the whole region will fall."

"Excellent. I have new orders for you that I need passed out to the other commanders in the field. I want the rest of the world to see what we're doing and to see that we are unchallengeable. So order your soldiers to capture whatever news reporters they find and force them to film our invasions across the region. Make sure they see the shows of force. And with the world media under my control, I'll make sure that the images are seen in every home throughout the world so that everyone will know that we are the rulers of Unova."

"Yes sir. But what if they ignore the threats and choose instead to fight for the region?"

"Then they will essentially be condemning hundreds of thousands of innocent people to death and will be entering a blood bath that will inevitably end in their defeat. I still have soldiers in other regions in position to strike hard and fast. If the regional governments try to fight me, they won't just be condemning the people of Unova to death, but also their own."

Commander Deiderich smiled. "Good plan high commander. I'll make sure the reporters see everything."

"Yes. I also want the people of Unova to see the images, to crush their spirits as well."

"Is there any major resistance to the invasion sir?"

"Yes commander. Oppelucid City stands against me. However, they will fall shortly."

"Do you want me to divert more forces to the city to assist in the takeover?"

"Negative. That will be unnecessary at the moment. However, be ready for the possibility."

"Yes sir."

"Carry on commander. High commander out." Dracous shut off the communications terminal and turned back to the massive table. For the entire region to fall, he needed Oppelucid City. Not only that, but he didn't like Malik being surrounded by hundreds of other trainers where he couldn't reach him. But then again, Dracous remembered. Maybe he didn't need an army to reach Malik, but only one person. But who? Dracous snapped his fingers as the thought came to mind. Of course. It was the perfect plan. Dracous started laughing on the inside. Why had he not thought of it before? It was just so simple. All he had to do was make a phone call.

7:9:57

7:9:58

7:9:59

7:10:00

Sapphira shrieked as the explosion lit up the sky with a massive fireball. Flaming pieces of debris fell down before bouncing off lucario's Aura shield. After dropping the shield, garchomp and blaziken leapt up to meet the enemy's pokemon flying overhead. The two working together dealt crippling blows to the pokemon – two swoobats – and knocked them to the ground where they lay incapable of dodging typhlosion's flamethrower. With these two threats vanquished, we continued on our way.

In all my years, I don't believe I can say that I've ever traveled through a real live battlefield where your instincts judged whether you lived or died. Arriving in Oppelucid City, it felt like we were thrown into the middle of the very embodiment of chaos. Pokemon fought other pokemon across a battlefield encompassing an entire city. Windows cracked and shattered, raining shrapnel onto whatever unfortunate people happened to walk beneath. The insides of the buildings burst into flames which enveloped them in black smoke. On the ground, streets developed cracks that spanned several feet. Huge chasms opened up from the constant battles and swallowed up whole cars. If not for the constant pokemon battling, one would have thought that the city had fallen victim to an unparalleled natural disaster.

Watching the city for danger, we ran through the streets as fast as we could. Battles took place on the ground, in the skies, and even up buildings where both sides shot ranged attacks at each other over the streets splitting the buildings. Massive bridges throughout the city collapsed under the strain of supporting such ferocious combatants. Strangely, I felt my adrenaline rushing through my body at break neck speeds and I found myself feeling excited with every step I took towards battle. Screeching tires alerted me to an armored car drifting around the street corner and rushing at us. Someone's head peaked out of the top behind a mini gun. Inwardly, I groaned. You've got to be kidding me. "Lucario, aura sphere and take it out." Lucario jumped into the street between us and the armored car with an aura sphere ready. The aura sphere flew through the air faster than the man could pull the trigger and hit the ground directly beneath the car's engine. The explosion threw the truck up and over, leaving it on the ground with fire pouring out of the gas tank. I urged the group onward, leaving the occupants of the armored car to suffer their inevitable fate. Behind us, the fire ignited the gasoline and ammunition, killing what soldiers remained within.

Even though early on in the battle the mercenaries had struck the power generators and the night sky barely held any more light from the day, the streets remained well lit by the explosions from battle. Above our heads, thousands of tiny "suns" created plenty of light for us to guide our footsteps around debris, over chasms, and through mazes of wrecked cars. More than once, typhlosion's fire was required for us to see the way through the city streets. But we made it through the city surprisingly fast.

Along the way, scores of strong trainers in town intercepted us, at which point I told them all to rally others and meet together in one place. From one such trainer, I learned that mayor Drayden had established city defense headquarters in the Old City. So now we found ourselves wandering through the city streets to find the most effective way into the Old City. Guided with Sapphira's knowledge of Oppelucid City and Aura's direction, we traversed the rugged urban battlefield between towers and skyscrapers.

"Just around that corner." Sapphira said, pointing to the corner directly ahead of us. "There should be a wide walkway with short concrete pillars on either side to restrict vehicle travel."

"Thanks." I stopped the group short of the corner. "Wait here. I'll go check to see if everything's okay."

"Can't lucario check things out with Aura?" suggested Trisha.

"Are you kidding? In the middle of a battlefield where the emotions on both sides are as strong as the pokemon? Lucario's blind out here when it comes to sensing other people's emotions. Just let me check." I walked on ahead and peaked around the corner. True to Sapphira's word, a walkway wide enough for three cars and with short concrete pillars to restrict vehicles lay there. However, I noticed that the concrete pillars had collapsed and the two smoking wrecks of armored cars lay amidst the rubble. Beyond them, a wall of brick and vehicles gathered in a massive pile denied access to anyone on the wrong side. I stepped out slowly around the corner and walked slowly past the armored cars. Two floodlights filled the walkway with blue light that stung my eyes, which had already grown accustomed to the darkness.

A stream of liquid flame doused the ground right in front of me. A man at the barrier shouted out, "That's far enough stranger. State your allegiance right now."

"My name is Malik." I replied. "I stand against the terrorists and their mercenary pawns. I have three friends and many pokemon standing just beyond the corner over there that need safety. One person has been limping on a bad ankle for hours and needs medical attention."

"Bring your friends out here slowly into the light so that we can see them."

I nodded and contacted lucario, "Bring them." Shortly, the entire group walked out and joined me at the light. I shouted to the barrier guards, "There, you see. We mean you no harm. We just need to get inside. I and my friend Yusuf are willing to help you in your fight against the terrorists if you let us in."

"We'll need to check with someone…"

"We don't have time for that!" An explosion of fire filled the street behind us with light that made the illumination of the floodlights appear dim in comparison. "You see that? The terrorists are getting closer, so unless you want to be cleaning up a few extra corpses, let us in." I noticed Sapphira cast me an uncomfortable look at my choice of words.

"Very well, come on in. But slowly. No funny business."

I growled inwardly. What the #!*% was funny these days? "Believe me, we won't. I also need to meet mayor Drayden to help him with defending the city."

"That's just not possible…"

"Then you had best make it possible. I don't have time. One of you had better lead me to Drayden now."

The soldiers and pokemon at the wall shifted uncomfortably for a while until a powerful voice spoke up from the far side of the barrier. "Let them in already. I'll gladly meet with Malik."

With the spotlights blinding me, I couldn't make out who had spoken. But one of the soldiers on the wall shouted, "Yes sir mayor Drayden. Come along now, all of you."

We walked forward out of the spotlight and through a makeshift door in the wall. On the other side, we were met by an elderly man with white hair and beard wearing a business suit and thick gloves. He nodded at me. "I'm mayor Drayden. Welcome to…this part of Oppelucid City."

He held out a gloved hand, which I shook. "Good to be here. I'll be glad to offer my assistance however I can."

"Well, if you can help organize the defenses of the city, I'll gladly accept you by my side. And who are your friends?"

"This is Yusuf Weaver, who will also gladly fight alongside your soldiers. His sister, Trisha. And his friend Sapphira." As each one was greeted, they nodded or mumbled greetings.

Beyond the wall, another explosion lit the night sky. Drayden glanced at it and gestured for us to enter into the Old City. "Come. It's probably not safe for you here."

We walked along the street and entered into the Old City. In contrast to the massive skyscrapers of glass and steel behind us, the buildings here only rose as high as five or six stories, built of solid blocks of stone. Rather than asphalt, cobblestones made up the streets. Bricks made up the sidewalks, and lights disguised as old gas lamps lit the streets. I spoke up from curiosity, "What's powering the lights here?"

"Backup generators. The mercenaries sabotaged the power plant to the north and cut power to the entire city."

I continued to scan the surroundings, recording any useful data about the architecture and landscape. The buildings were well kept for being so old. The entire city resembled ruins restored over and over again. Some of the architecture matched that of the timekeeper's castle, suggesting that perhaps they were constructed in close proximity to each other in time. We marched through the Old City until reaching an impasse between streets. Drayden halted and pointed off to the right. "The pokemon center is down that way, and the surrounding buildings have been converted into hospitals."

I nodded and turned to the gang. "All right. Trisha, take Sapphira to the hospital and get her foot checked out. Yusuf, you stay with me."

Both girls nodded and Trisha rushed over to take Sapphira off of Yusuf's shoulder. Sapphira didn't immediately, but released eelektross from his pokeball. With the electric eel guarding them, the two girls started on their way to the hospitals. Meanwhile, the rest of us marched in the opposite direction. I speeded my gait to walk alongside Drayden.

"Where did all these trainers come from?"

"What you are looking at is the task force I created after this morning's attacks to help combat the terrorists. They've been training for this all day, but not enough to hold the city."

"So, how much of the city have you lost?"

"We have complete control over the Old City and much of the New City surrounding as a buffer zone against attacks. Beyond that is where most of the battles are taking place." As if to emphasize his point, an explosion lit up the sky a mile or two to the north. We just kept walking.

"What about defenders?"

"We're numbering about eight hundred trainers strong with their pokemon. It would appear the mercenaries have the inadequate strength and numbers at the moment to attain control of the entire city."

"Why is that?"

"One, Oppelucid City is the most secure city in the world. This morning's attacks were the first in its history. So the people living here didn't see the need for large numbers of mercenaries protecting us. Two, the city is the gateway to the Pokemon League, which means many strong trainers call this their home. Three, I believe we are so far north that the terrorists haven't been able to commit as many soldiers to this city as they have to other cities in the region."

"How much of the region have we lost?" asked Yusuf, walking on the other side of Drayden.

"About fifty percent as of now. We have maps at our headquarters that I can show you. Here we are." I looked and saw a building standing in front of us. Drayden continued, "This is the old city hall before it moved to the New City. It will serve as an effective command center. Please enter." Drayden opened the front door for us. We entered, leaving all of our pokemon except for lucario waiting outside.

Inside, the front lobby had been completely cleared and groups of trainers sat on the ground examining maps of the city. Drayden spoke as we passed, "These are the commanders of the task force of local strong trainers I created after this morning's attacks. They're trustworthy and well organized and ready to be deployed throughout the city wherever needed." From that room, we entered through double doors into another, much larger room. In this one, communications equipment lined the walls and several tables occupied the center to accommodate large laminated maps nailed into the wood. Arriving at the table, Drayden pointed to two. "Here's a map of the Unova Region, and here's one of Oppelucid City. Just in case, here's another map of the land around the city."

I nodded at him and stepped up to the table. Lucario walked up and stood next to me as we studied the maps. Someone had brought in multicolored pushpins and had covered most of both maps with them. First studying the Unova map, astonishment entered into my mind at how many red pushpins covered it. "Is this showing how much of the region we're lost?"

Drayden nodded with a sad look on his face. "The terrorists had us duped from the beginning. Their major assaults took place along the coasts with a navy waiting off shore."

"How did they hide an entire naval force?"

"Their navy was completely submerged and hidden from sonar. Plus, I suspect that they had infiltrators inside the security to keep their fleet from being discovered. These skyscraper-size submarines resurfaced just off the coast and their troops hit land." Drayden then started pointing with gloved fingers at certain points on the map. "They hit Driftveil city, Castelia city, Nuvema Town, and Undella Town. The two towns fell immediately while the cities have yet to fall." The small towns were always the first to fall, I thought. Drayden continued, "That's not the worst of it. They had naval units up both rivers. In time with the hits on the coasts, they seized control of all five bridges…"

"…essentially cutting Unova into three pieces." I finished for him. Smart move. It's what I would have done. "What other cities are still holding?"

"Lacunosa Town fell earlier, meaning we are now receiving heavy assaults from the East. Black City is still holding, but with their positions at Skyarrow Bridge, Marvelous Bridge., Undella Town, and Nuvema Town…" Drayden drew an invisible circle with a finger that connected each of the locations he mentioned. "…they basically surround all of these settlements inside this circle. Accumula Town and Striaton City have already fallen. Nacrene City will be next. Black City still holds thanks to the large numbers of strong trainers there, but nothing's for certain now."

"What about the Western third of Unova?"

"It will probably fall next I predict. Once Driftveil City falls, and with their positions at Tubeline Bridge, that's another circle around Mistralton City, Icirrus City, and Anville Town. Nimbasa City to the South still holds, but not for long. As soon as the terrorists have a clear path through Castelia City, they'll march north and take the city."

"Where are you getting all of this information anyway?" asked Yusuf.

Drayden grimaced and pointed to a TV hanging on one of the walls. "Through that. These terrorists have control of the broadcasting networks in the region and they're broadcasting images of their invasion on every channel. It's a demoralization tactic, but we're using it to track their troop movements."

"Aren't any of the other regions doing something about this?"

"They can't. The terrorists have been broadcasting images of…why, there it is right now." Drayden said pointing again at the TV. "Hey. Turn up the volume for our guests."

One of the commanders in the room increased the volume so that we could all hear. I watched in silent horror at the terrorist standing squarely in the frame with a civilian in the middle of what looked like a football stadium. The civilian kept looking at the ground and I noticed plenty of blood on his shirt from looked like a broken nose. With shock, I realized that the terrorist on screen was the same one from the hospital in Driftveil City. His voice came through the speakers of the TV clear and calmly. "Peoples of the world. I am the representative of the freedom fighters. If you look around me…" At this point, the camera pointing at the terrorist agent swiveled around to reveal a stadium full of people sitting silently in their chairs. "…we have hundreds of thousands of people as our captives." The camera returned to the terrorist agent. "Now, I am standing with a member of that audience. What's your name sonny?"

The civilian mumbled a word, but it was too quietly to hear. The terrorist agent shook him, ordering him to speak louder. The civilian gulped and said, "Ca-Carl."

"Carl. And who are you with Carl?"

"My…my girlfriend Kyla."

"Kyla. That's a pretty name. Where are you two from?"

"Drift-Driftveil City."

"Ah, so I take it you're cheering for the Driftveil city Bulldozers. Good team. Tell me Carl. Do you want Kyla to die?"

"N-no."

"No? Well, do you want any of these other people to die?"

"N-no, I don't."

"You don't? Well, then you had better hope that the regional governments of the world stay out of our way. We are the rulers of Unova now. So if any regional government makes so much as a step towards fighting with us over this region, we will kill every last person in this stadium. Do you want everyone in this stadium to die Carl?" The terrorist agent's words dripped with menace and cruel satisfaction.

"No (gulp), no."

"Well, hopefully the other regions of the world think the same as you because if they don't, then you will all die."

"All right. Lower the volume now." Drayden interrupted, signaling the commander to mute the TV. Turning back to us with grim sadness on his face, he said, "The other regions aren't making a move against the terrorists. Frankly, I don't blame them. These terrorists mean business and it's not good. From what I hear, the other regional governments are trying to arrange negotiations with the terrorists, but it's not working."

"Of course not. The terrorists have control of most of the region and hold the other regions at bay. Why would they negotiate if they have the upper hand?"

"You have a good point there. Anyway, we're estimating that with some of the cities holding, the terrorists will have control over at least eighty percent of the Unova Region within the hour."

I was stunned. Lucario was stunned. Yusuf's face went white with complete shock. How could it be, I asked myself, that these terrorists had planned so well as to seize control of most of the region in an hour? It sounded improbably, almost impossible. "They're moving fast. Too fast. We can't counter them until we get just as fast. So it's only us and Black City holding out?"

"Well, and the Pokemon League for obvious reasons. That's three."

"Can the champion and the elite four come help us? Or can we go there?"

"Negative to both. They are holed up pretty good under heavy assault and siege. Even if we did get close, we'd be back to where we started."

"At least we'd be in a better situation to defend ourselves. The Pokemon League is sitting on a mountain. Much easier to defend than this city."

"But we can't leave the city. We have too many injured people."

"Yes." I rubbed my temples with agitation, realizing for the first time since leaving the Yusuf's house that I still had the bandages from the hospital on. "Show me the map of the city."

We walked around the table to another map nailed into the wood. This one revealed the streets and buildings of Oppelucid City. Like on the region map, red pushpins marked out enemy positions and troop deployments while a wall of green surrounded the Old City. Outside the defensive perimeter, lone green pushpins stood out like sore thumbs amongst the red. Drayden narrated as he pointed out ally positions. "We have established a defensive perimeter around all of Old City and we hold many of the surrounding New City blocks. Beyond that, we have pockets of resistance located throughout the city. Some have penetrated as far within three miles of the enemy headquarters here at the New City Hall." Drayden pointed at a tight circle of red located on the far side of the city.

"All right. Fall back all troops to the defensive perimeter you have established already."

Drayden and the other commanders in the room looked shocked. "Why should we do that?"

"Because you're spreading yourselves too thin. You said it yourself Drayden: we're too far north for the terrorists to touch us right now. Instead of immediately going on the offensive, you need to establish your defenses and be ready for the coming onslaught."

"Is that your strategy in pokemon battles?"

"No. I'm usually on the offensive. But that's when I can get into my opponent's head and figure them out." I pointed at the map of Unova. "I barely know anything about these terrorists. I've learned more about them in the past ten minutes than I've ever known in the past six months. I can't get into their minds and figure them out, so it's best to fall back on the defensive and prepare for the offensive yet to come. The smaller the area we need to defend, the tighter the defenses and the less likely it is for the enemy to break through."

Drayden nodded and started dispatching orders to the squads through his commanders in the room. Meanwhile, I scanned the map of the city looking not only for a way to break through the terrorist defensive line, but also for a way for them to break through ours. My eyes settled on a grey colored line running right through the middle of Old City. Looking at the legend of the map, I discovered that the gray line was actually a subway line beneath the city. "Drayden, where's the subway station in town?"

Drayden walked over and pointed at a location on the map about five miles north of Old City. "There."

"You need to seize control of that station."

"Why?"

"You've got a subway line running right beneath the city. The enemy could sneak through that way and believe me; you do not want to be fighting a battle on three levels; in the air, on the ground, and underground."

"Couldn't we just collapse the tunnels?"

"And then deceive ourselves into thinking that we're safe? Where you least expect the enemy to emerge is where they'll catch you by surprise and crush you. Yes, collapse the tunnel on our end, but take control of the train station. It's not too far north that you'll be stretching your defensive line too much."

"All right." Drayden turned and faced the opening to the lobby. "Lieutenant Jordan, report in!"

I and Yusuf turned to see a man of about thirty wearing what were probably meant to be insignia defining his official rank within the resistance. He saluted Drayden very sloppily. "General Drayden. Lieutenant Jordan reporting as ordered!"

Drayden commenced introduction. "Lieutenant Jordan, this is Malik and Yusuf. Malik, this is Lieutenant Jordan, commander of squad fifteen." We nodded at each other while Drayden assigned the mission of taking the train station to Lieutenant Jordan.

Jordan nodded. "Understood sir!"

I spoke up, "Yusuf will go with you. You'll need all the help you can get to seize control of the station and hold it from the enemy."

"And what exactly do we do when we get there?"

"Collapse the train tunnels. And I'm not talking about with a pile of rubble. I'm talking about making those tunnels inexistent."

Lieutenant Jordan nodded and welcomed Yusuf to walk alongside him outside to squad fifteen. Having taken care of that, I turned back to the map. "Hand me a pen." Drayden did as I requested. With the pen in hand, I circled the train station while narrating. "A one mile radius defensive perimeter around the train station is required." I drew around the defensive perimeter around Old City. "Maintain the current defensive perimeter." Next, I drew two tangent segments, connecting the outsides of the two oblong circles. "And establish a defensive perimeter between the two sites. Not too large as to stretch out you lines, and yet tight enough to hold the defensive line. Make sure we have air superiority within this defensive perimeter."

"Already on it." Drayden was dispatching commanders out into the field to secure multiple positions on the map.

Then lucario spoke into my mind. "Master. Sapphira…"

Blast. I had totally forgotten the whole original purpose for being in Oppelucid City. I needed to bring Sapphira to her friend in the hospital. "Excuse me Drayden, but where's the hospital in town?"

He turned from his business with the commanders. "Which one do you want?"

Snap. There must have been multiple hospitals in town. "Which ones are in the defensive perimeter?"

Drayden walked over to the map. "Two of the three largest ones in the city are inside the perimeter. Here and here." He pointed at the locations, between Old City and the train station. "Why are you asking?"

"I need to find some more information about the terrorists. I think John Samuels was working for them."

"John Samuels? The political activist from earlier today?"

"Yeah. Sapphira had a friend from about a year ago who is John Samuels' daughter. It's possible that she may serve as a lead to the terrorists if she's related to John Samuels."

"But what proof do you have that John Samuels was working for the terrorists?"

"Well, just look around. This is all thanks to martial law that John Samuels worked to establish. I think the terrorists were using him."

Drayden thought for a while. "So I suppose you're going to need transportation to the hospitals once the way is clear?"

"Yes. Sooner than later."

"But John Samuels' daughter might not even be at one of those two hospitals."

"And this might be another dead end, I know. But it's worth it."

"Well, all right. Here, take this two-way radio. I'll let you know once the way is clear."

"Good. And tell the transportation to meet us at the local hospital."

"The local hospital?"

"Yes. I promised I'd bring Sapphira to her friend and that's what I intend to do. Arrange the transportation, tell me when it's safe, and I'll take care of everything else."

"Right. Thanks for all your help Malik."

"You're welcome." I pivoted and lucario followed me out of the room. Outside, blaziken and garchomp rejoined me and walked alongside to the local hospitals. People on both sides of the street stopped and stared at the procession of super rare pokemon and their trainer passing by. We marched on, not minding the stares, until arriving at the pokemon center. Through the glass exterior, I could see Nurse Joy and her assistants rushing about to take care of the wounded pokemon pouring in from the front. Around the pokemon center, multiple buildings held crimson 'H's applied by spray paint signifying the hospitals. I entered the first one and asked the nurses present about Sapphira. One led me to another until I finally discovered Sapphira's location. Arriving there, I found her sitting with Trisha in a room filled with white beds, white sheets, and white curtains. Sapphira sat in a chair while Trisha squatted on the floor tending to a pile of bandages.

Sapphira noticed me walking up. "Oh. Hey Malik. How are things out there?"

"Out there, it's not good. What's happening in here?"

Trisha on the floor looked up at me. "I'm helping out with the wounded people by cutting up these bed sheets into bandages. It's not much, but at least I'm doing something."

I nodded before looking back at Sapphira. "How's your foot?"

The foot in question had been upgraded from the simple bandages applied at Yusuf's house to a full cast and boot. She wiggled her leg a bit and winced. "It still hurts. They gave me painkillers, but not enough. They say they need to save as many painkillers as they can for others."

"Okay. Is it okay for you to be moving about?"

"Yeah. They gave me some crutches to use, so I can move about now. Where we going?"

"Once the way is clear, I'm taking you to the hospital. I don't know if your friend is at either of the two we can reach, but we can still try."

She smiled. "Thank you Malik."

Trisha looked up from her work again. "So what's going on out there?"

I sighed and crossed my arms. "Basically, the entire region is under siege. Many cities have fallen or are about to fall. The terrorists have planned out every tiny detail of this invasion plan."

"Oh no." Both Sapphira and Trisha gasped at the news. "So do you have any theories about who the leader might be?"

"No. But whoever he is, he's patient and calculated. An invasion like this would take years to prepare, maybe longer. Whoever the leader is, he is incredibly patient."

"But we can still win. The good guys always win in the end, right?"

I sighed and tried to contain my emotions. "I'm not going to lie to you; it's not looking good so far. Even if we were able to hold this city indefinitely against the terrorists, we wouldn't be close enough to take back the entire region. At the very least, we would be caught in a siege that we couldn't win, no matter how much we rationed our food supplies."

"Can't we retreat elsewhere? The Pokemon League?"

"Negative. They're under a heavy siege that's keeping them busy. We can't reach them and they can't reach us."

"So we're just stuck here waiting for our inevitable defeat?"

I slowly nodded with sadness welling up in my heart. My mind repulsed at the thought of losing the battle. "I'm afraid so. However, I'm going to keep on fighting. There's one thing that can lead to our victory."

"What?" both girls asked at once with extreme interest gleaming on their faces.

"If we take out the leader, we win. Cut off the head and the body will die. But that's a big if."

"Still, if it could be done…"

"The war would be over tomorrow. That's why it's important to follow every lead in existence, so as soon as I receive the call…"

"Malik. Drayden to Malik. Are you there?" the voice of Drayden came from the two-way radio I held in my hand.

Everybody smiled at the perfect timing and I replied into the radio, "Yes Drayden, I'm here."

"Good. The car for you and Sapphira is waiting out front and the way to the hospitals is clear."

"Thank you. We're on our way there right now. Malik out."

"Drayden out."

I stashed the radio away and gestured towards Sapphira. "It's time to go. You need any help?"

"Nope. I've got this." She stood shakily up and reached for some crutches. After grabbing them and securing them beneath her arms, she started to walk with her new "feet" after me as we left the hospital. Behind us, Trisha waved and wished us good luck before returning to her bandages.

Outside, we found a car not present before. As we walked, I shouted, "Blaziken, you're taking the right! Garchomp on the left! Lucario up front!" Each of the pokemon jumped to their position around the car. I helped Sapphira into the passenger seat, stowed her crutches in the back, and walked around to the driver's side. The keys for the car sat on the seat for me. Turning them in the ignition, the engine responded with a rumble and purr. I pressed down on the gas, accelerating the car forward while the three pokemon outside ran and maintained their positions. At the north entrance to Old City, the "gate" there opened up for us and we entered into New City.

7:34:57

7:34:58

7:34:59

7:35:00

Despite the need for light in the darkened streets of Oppelucid City, I resisted the temptation to turn on the headlights so as not to alert anyone. Instead, I relied solely on Aura to guide me through the streets and around every twist and obstacle. Plenty of obstacles filled the streets. Cars, abandoned in the middle of the streets in the panic of the sudden attacks. Craters created by pokemon. Chasms in the ground forced open by earthquakes or earth powers that I forced the car to leap across. I allowed myself to gaze at the city around me. Smoke rose and filled the sky until no stars could be seen. Fires inhabited buildings where once scores of people dwelled. My Aura felt a presence to the right and I looked. Sapphira followed my gaze to where an elderly woman pushing a shopping cart which held what looked like all of her belongings. As the car passed with a roar, she gazed upwards and made eye contact with us. In that one second it took for us to pass her, I saw the sorrow in her eyes and felt the strong emotions of pain within her.

Sapphira broke eye contact just before we passed her and wiped her eyes. I could feel extreme sadness emanating from her. Even though she couldn't touch that woman through Aura, she somehow felt more pain from that one second than I had. I reached over and patted her leg reassuringly. She looked at me with those bright sapphire blue eyes and I looked at her. I noticed the tears falling from her eyes and saw the remorse written on her face. "I…I never thought war was this terrible. I…I never imagined…" She broke off her sentence as more tears fell and she busied herself by wiping them away.

I refocused on the road ahead. "I'm sorry you have to be here to witness it." Bright orange light dragged my attention away from the road to an apartment complex on the right completely engulfed in flames.

Sapphira's emotions went off the charts as she gazed at the massive inferno. Despite the high raging emotions throughout the city, I could clearly feel hers. Shock, sadness, curiosity, more sadness. "How…how many people do you think lived there? How many children?"

"I don't know. We can only hope that people got out in time." Within seconds, the apartment complex disappeared behind us.

Sapphira turned her head to look at the road and the moving silhouette of lucario running ahead of us. "You know, by all the TV shows and movies, you would never believe war is terrible. They always make it so clean and with less blood or emotion. But you know what? If they did make war on the TV screen look as terrible as it really is, then no one would watch it because it would be just so horrible. And that's what war is: horrible. It tears lives and homes apart. It scars landscapes and destroys whole cities, turning them into infernos like that apartment complex. It's so horrible and so sad, but still people fight wars. Why?"

I slowly shook my head and looked at her. My eyes met her sapphire eyes, which unleashed even more tears. "I don't know Sapphira. I really don't know. And it saddens me too."

"Weren't there any wars at the time of the order of assassins?"

I looked back at the road. "Oh yes, long ago; before my time. Before the democratic regional governments of today, many kingdoms contested for power in each region. But the order of assassins always stayed clear of it. It was not our business to intervene in the wars of others."

"Why not?"

I sighed and closed my eyes for but a brief moment, thinking of how best to word my answer. "We…we saw war as nothing but a check and balance system. Whenever one kingdom grew too powerful, the other nations would put aside their differences for but a moment to make war on the stronger nation. To us, war was the method by which nations checked and balanced each other. If we intervened, the balance would be thrown out of whack. So we never intervened."

"But…but didn't you want to?"

"Well yes, sometimes. This was long before my time, but the stories still survived. Sometimes, the order argued constantly about whether or not to intervene, but they always decided in the end not to."

"That's horrible. What about the people who dying because of the wars? Couldn't the order have saved them?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. That wasn't the question. The order cared more about balance. Balance between the nations. There's no telling what might have happened if we had intervened."

"People might not have died." Sapphira crossed her arms and gazed out her window at the wrecked city. I looked at her, thinking of what to say, but decided to leave it what she had said. I really didn't feel like entering an argument with her over ancient history and the decisions of other assassins.

"Here we are." I said, turning a right onto the road running parallel with one of the two hospitals we would visit. We entered the parking lot slowly and pulled up to the front. I exited the car and circled to the other side where I helped Sapphira with her crutches. "Lucario, follow us." I communicated mentally. Lucario nodded. To the other two pokemon, I said, "Stay with the vehicle." Blaziken and garchomp both nodded and remained where they stood.

The automatic sliding doors of the hospital slid open slowly, whereupon I noticed the burn marks on the walls. Medics and gurneys rushed all over the place. We walked slowly through the commotion to the front desk where only one nurse was working. "Excuse me, can you help us?" I asked.

She looked up. "I'm sorry, but we're getting this hospital ready for the wounded soldiers and pokemon arriving from the battle."

"That's not more important than this. I need your help."

"Sir, I really can't help you…"

I slammed my fist on the desk, making Sapphira squeak from fright and the nurse start. "You are going to help me. I'm looking for someone. Just give me five minutes of your time."

She held her hands up front. "All right. Five minutes, but then I need to get back to work." She sat down at the desk.

"Great. I'm looking for a coma patient. She's a young girl, about her age…" I gestured at Sapphira. "…last name is Samuels."

"Lila Samuels." Said Sapphira.

"Well, I can look on the computer. Is that all the information you have on her?"

"She was checked in about a year ago. She's the daughter of John Samuels, the political activist from earlier today."

The nurse typed on the computer. While she did, I studied the surroundings. Multiple cords from the computer behind the desk ran to a running generator on the far side of the room, which looked like it was receiving a workout from the vast number of cords running from it. It appeared that ground level rooms were in the process of being evacuated to make easy room for the inevitable wounded arriving from battle. The previously clean hospital now appeared dirty and like the site of a warzone. Finally, the nurse responded, "I'm sorry, but I have no one here under that name."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure sir. There's no one by that name in the directory."

Sapphira tried to squeeze her way in front of me. "Please check again. Maybe your system is malfunctioning." The nurse shook her head. Sapphira started looking agitated and desperate. "Please. There would have been someone with her at all times. An older man, about thirty, unrelated to her. He would have been here every day for the past year watching over her."

Again, the nurse shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I don't know anything. Sorry. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to help organize how the wounded will be taken care of."

Sapphira bowed her head as the nurse stood up and rushed away. I gently started to pull her to the door. "Don't worry Sapphira. There's another hospital that we can go to."

I noticed tears starting to fall again from her eyes as she slowly turned around with her crutches. We walked slowly through the main lobby to the front door. Through the glass, I could see the fires rising from the tops of buildings and the explosions of sky battles between pokemon. Suddenly, someone started following us. I pivoted around with a hidden blade in my hand as lucario readied an aura sphere to see a middle aged man holding up his hands in defense. "Whoa there." He said, obviously astonished by my knife and lucario's show of aggression. "I hear you're looking for a coma patient."

Sapphira turned to face him. "Yes, do you know…?" Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "It's you. You're Mr. Samuels' friend that he told to watch over Lila."

"Really?" I said, dropping my knife and ordering lucario to do the same with his aura sphere.

"Yeah. I remember you."

The man bowed his head courteously to Sapphira. He had unkempt blonde hair and wore a dirtied brown business suit. Glasses, with a cracked left lens, hung to his nose and over his eyes. His lips cracked into a smile. "Sapphira? Is that really you?"

"Yeah." She said. "You remember me?"

"Remember? I remember John introducing me to you when you were sitting by Lila's bedside, writing poetry."

Sapphira blushed. "Well, I only remember your face. What's your name again?"

"Taylor. Anthony Taylor." He shook Sapphira's hand. Then, to me he asked, "And who are you?"

"Malik." I stowed the knife away and shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you. Apologies for the knife."

"It's no bother. In these uncertain times, who isn't carrying a knife?"

"So where's Lila? And why didn't the hospital have a record of her?" Sapphira asked.

"Well, John had her registered under a false name. That's why you couldn't find her. They just moved her. She's in the coma ward on the third floor. I'll take you to her. We'll need to take the stairs though."

"No problem. Let's get moving." Sapphira took the lead, walking ahead of us to the nearest staircase.

Behind her, Anthony chuckled. "Boy, she looks enthusiastic to see her friend again."

I nodded. "Yeah. If it's true that you're Mr. Samuels' friend, then tell me about Lila and her father."

"What do you want to know?"

"For starters, was John Samuels working for the terrorists?"

Anthony sighed as we entered into the staircase with lucario trailing us. Sapphira had already climbed several flights ahead of us on her crutches. "How'd you know?"

Now I chuckled. "Look around us. All that has happened in the past hour is because of martial law that John Samuels pushed to have enacted. Even a blind man could tell that he's working with them."

"Then yes, you are correct. But he wasn't working for the reasons you probably suspect. It's for Lila's good."

"How is any of this for Lila's good?"

"Do you know why she's here?"

"Brain cancer. Entered a coma about a year ago."

"Correct. John Samuels loves his daughter and would do anything for her. But with the brain tumor, her life expectancy span is basically cut in half. There was a very good chance of her dying before her father died. John couldn't bear the thought of it. Luckily, there is an experimental treatment combined with a highly dangerous surgery to extract the brain tumor, but it was too expensive for John. So when the terrorists came up to him asking if he would help them out in exchange for the money to take care of Lila, he accepted. They told him to push the people towards enacting martial law and he did it. He didn't know what the terrorists would do."

"Did the terrorists keep their part of the bargain?"

"Yes. Mere seconds after John's speech in Castelia City, the hospital received money from John's bank account for Lila's surgery. Luckily, she got out of surgery just minutes before the attacks and is now resting in her room. According to the doctors, she'll be fine and she has no knowledge of what her father has done, and I'd like to keep it that way."

I nodded. "So I guess John let you in on what the terrorists were doing with him?"

Anthony nodded. "Yes. In fact, I've been investigating the terrorists."

"As have I."

Anthony smiled at hearing the news. "Well then, we should compare notes."

"I don't know. My notes have me confused. There are still things that aren't connecting."

"Maybe I can help. Where did you get your information?"

"Most of my information is from a friend who has been gathering research on the terrorists for the past six months. He's left me a lot of information on a timeline of all the events that has taken place for the past ten months."

"Ten months? But I thought that the terrorist attacks started happening six months ago."

"As did I." We had finally reached the third floor where we opened the door and entered into a corridor where I saw Sapphira walking on ahead. "But my friend is convinced of the information he's gathered and it had revealed some things about the terrorists."

"Here, let's sit on this bench. Sapphira can find Lila and spend time with her alone." Anthony walked over to a bench to the left. "Please sit." I sat down next to him while lucario continued to stand. "So tell me, why are the terrorists attacking?"

"I don't know." Thinking back to the timekeeper's words about this all being about revenge, I said, "It might be revenge, but for what, I don't know."

"Is there anything else you don't know?"

Nothing came to mind. To be certain, I retraced my steps through my mind about all the information Orion had left on the hard drive. I recalled all the information found at Yusuf's house by both I and Trisha. Suddenly, I remembered something from the café in Nimbasa City with Trisha. "Yes. There was one name I haven't figured anything about on the timeline. John Berkley?"

Anthony's eyes widened and alarm filled his features. "John Berkley? Are you sure his name was on the timeline?"

"Yeah. You know him?"

"I should hope I do. We worked together many years ago. He was one of my best friends."

"So you know him." My mind was ecstatic at the thought. "What do you know of him?"

"A lot. But I don't know how he could be related to the terrorists."

"Well, just tell me everything you know about him…"

Anthony started to speak when a voice started calling out from one of my pockets. "Malik! Malik, respond!" The voice of mayor Drayden resonated from the two way radio I had with me. I excused myself from Anthony before responding, "Yes Drayden, I'm here."

"Good. Listen, we have an inbound helicopter from the South with someone on board claiming to be Steven Stone. Says you know him and can confirm his arrival."

"Yes. He alerted me about an hour ago telling me that he would be arriving in Oppelucid City about this time. Let him in. He will be instrumental to our defense."

"Very well. Drayden out."

"Malik out." I stashed the radio and turned on Anthony. "Okay. Tell me everything you know about John Berkley."

"First." he said, pointing a finger at me. "Tell me everything you know first."

7:55:57

7:55:58

7:55:59

7:56:00

The steady beeping of the heart monitor attached to Lila registered a steady heart beat and blood pressure. Sedative from an IV kept her under while she recovered from the surgery. White cloth covered her head where the drills and surgery tools had entered to remove the tumor. According to the doctors, the experimental treatment and surgery had been a complete success.

Sapphira stood so close to the glass, her breath caused it to fog up. When a nurse had informed her on Lila's positive condition, she was overjoyed. "Oh Lila." She said, thinking that maybe Lila could hear her. "Remember all those fun times we had playing in Old City. We would take turns being the queen and the princess and would play all the time. You wouldn't believe what I've been through this past year. I wish I could tell you everything right now. I've made some new friends. They're really cool. You'd like them. And I've met some rare pokemon too. Remember when we tried to catch pokemon. We sucked so badly at that." Sapphira chuckled when she thought back to those days. They had found a lillipup wandering through the streets and had tried to catch it, but the pokemon bit them both badly. "Oh, we were so innocent back then. We could take on the world. Even when you were in the hospital, we always had fun. I'd come and visit and we would draw pictures and write poetry and talk about boys. We were always the best of friends. I'm so sorry I couldn't have been here at all the past year. I hope you can forgive me."

Someone walked up and tapped Sapphira on the shoulder. Sapphira turned and looked at the nurse standing beside her. "What is it?"

"Are you Sapphira?"

"Yeah."

The nurse pointed behind her. "There's a phone call for you. We've routed it into that telephone there."

Sapphira adopted a quizzical look. "Who is it?"

"I don't know. He just said that he would like to talk to you. The phone's right there if you want to."

"Um, okay. Thank you." The nurse smiled and left. Sapphira walked over to the phone booth and picked up the phone and put it to her ear and mouth. "He-hello? Who is this?"

A cold male voice on the other end said, "You don't remember me?"

Sapphira contained the gasp that wanted to rise in her mouth and quickly turned her head so that no one down the hall could see her speaking. "I told you not to call me."

"Now, is that any way to talk to someone you haven't talked to in years?"

"Please, just leave me alone. I told you that I don't want to talk to you anymore."

"Listen to me Sapphira; I have a job I want you to do for me."

Cold sweat started to drip down Sapphira's brow. "What…what is it?"

"It's a very important job that only you can carry out."

"What makes you think that I'll do anything for you? I can hang up this phone right now if I wanted…"

"But you won't because if you do this job, I'll tell you something."

Sapphira remained silent for a while. Then, "What will you tell me?"

The man on the other end chuckled. "I know who your mother and father were and how they died and I'm willing to tell you. All you have to do is do this simple job for me. So what do you think?"

Sapphira bit her bottom lip in fear. She didn't know what the job was, but that kind of information was something she had always wanted to know for her entire life. "I…I don't know."

"Yes you do. Inside, you're thinking that maybe I'm lying and if you do this job, you won't get anything. Or maybe this job is something that you just can't in your right mind do and you'll have to make a tough moral choice. But know this: I'm a man of my word as you've always known. I swore to change the world and I am."

"You are killing innocent people. You're ripping their lives and their homes apart. How is any of that changing the world?"

"I don't need to explain myself. Least of all to you. Either accept the job or not. Do it and I'll tell you everything you've ever wanted to know about your beloved mother and father."

Sapphira nibbled all the more on her bottom lip. In her mind, a constant battle raged on while she thought about what to decide. Seconds felt like minutes as they ticked by. She sighed and finally responded, "Okay. I'll do the job. What is it?"

The man chuckled menacingly. "Good choice. Here is what you will do…"

7:59:57

7:59:58

7:59:59

8:00:00

**Author's note: As you have probably figured out by now, each chapter represents an hour of time passing, meaning that there are only eight chapters left until the epic finale. Frankly, I'm surprised I've made it this far into the story without quitting for something else. But given how this story's been going and the fact that it's only going to get better as the hours pass, I'm determined to stick this out to the end. Given that this is the last part of the story, the chapters will get much, much longer, since there are so many mysteries to solve (Some, I'm still trying to figure out myself). It's going to get really exiting and hopefully suspenseful from here on out. However, this story is only a rough draft. I plan on finishing this and then reading it through to fix it up for the final draft. If any of you have ideas or questions that could help in improving the story, I will gladly hear them. Whether or not I accept them is a totally different matter. But do feel free to comment whatever you like on the story as it is. I'll gladly take any advice or critiques that you can offer. Thank you, and enjoy the rest of the story.**


	17. Chapter 17

The following takes place between 8 P.M. and 9 P.M.

The twin rotors of the helicopter created a tiny dust storm on the ground in Old City as the massive flying vehicle settled downward. Simple fluorescent lights lit the unofficial landing pad for the chopper, as larger lights would have alerted the enemy. Along the skyline of the city, tiny explosions signaled battles taking place miles away. As the helicopter descended, landing gears with massive wheels unlocked from the craft and interceded between the helicopter and the ground. Under the massive weight, the gears lowered even further to cushion the landing, as if the helicopter were sitting on a bed that compressed to compensate for the mass. Steadily, the rotors slowed to a halt. The flipping of many switches shut off all but one of the fluorescent lights, which illuminated the side door.

The door under observation opened downward and revealed a set of steps built in on the inside. Two people from within walked out and into the light. Steven's gray hair was dirtied and his business coat appeared more shabby than usual. His companion kept his eyes down so as not to make eye contact with anyone. Drayden walked from behind the fluorescent light to greet Steven with a hearty handshake. "Welcome to Oppelucid City Steven Stone. It is a great honor to have the former champion of the Hoenn Region here to help us in our fight against the terrorists."

Steven accepted the hand shake. "It is an honor to be here. Better than sitting in a mercenary prison for certain. I would much rather be fighting on the front line."

"Yes. And who is your friend?"

Steven gestured to Ray. "This is Ray, a friend of mine from Castelia City. If not for him, I wouldn't be here. He has the most famous pokemon team in the world. The famous six rotom team."

Drayden shook his head. "Can't say that I've heard of it. But oh well. Unova is after all, very isolated from the rest of the world. What's famous in other regions is new over here."

Ray looked absolutely sullen at the news, but continued to keep his eyes downcast. "What are we to do here to fight the terrorists?"

Drayden clapped. "Yes. The terrorists control most of New City while we control all of Old City. We have established a defensive perimeter stretching from here to the subway station north of here, so as to restrict the terrorists from attacking us underground. The perimeter still holds but for how long, we cannot begin to guess. As far as we know, the terrorist armies here are much smaller, but that may soon change when the terrorists gain more land to the south."

"How much of the region have the terrorists seized?" Steven asked.

Drayden turned and walked into the city, inviting them to follow. "Reports coming in suggest that the terrorists have control of Castelia City, but only just. Striaton City and Nacrene City fell ten minutes before your arrival to their forces in the south. Black City is holding, but under heavy siege. Driftveil City fell five minutes ago and they've begun deploying troops northward towards Mistralton City and Icirrus City. Anville Town has also fallen, and they're using the train systems throughout the region to transport troops, armor, and supplies. I predict Nimbasa City will fall next."

"So they nearly have the entire region. How could it be?"

"Believe me, it has shocked even us. Thankfully, we still hold with superior numbers at the moment. The Pokemon League also holds due to the champion and the Elite Four, but they're under heavy siege. Black City is surrounded and on the verge of collapse. They do not have the numbers or the leadership that we have here."

"And I hear that the other regions aren't responding to the crisis."

"Well, they're responding. People all over the world are shocked at the speed and the ferocity of the invasion. But so long as the terrorists threaten to kill hundreds of thousands of people, the rest of the world isn't moving. So it would appear that the terrorists have free rein."

"Not if we can help it. They don't have control over every city. If we can cause enough trouble for them, then we can show them that nothing they can do will make us bend to their will. How many soldiers do you have defending the city?"

"Eight hundred at least. We have them spread out defending a border protecting our primary assets. However, Malik says that if we spread out even further, we'll stretch the line too far and will fall when the primary assault arrives."

"Will another assault arrive soon?"

"We believe so. Being so far north and so well protected these past six months, the enemy didn't have sufficient numbers for the initial attacks and the terrorists haven't been able to move their Second Wave soldiers up here as quickly. Soon, they will."

"I see." Steven scratched his scalp, trying to think up solutions to the obvious problem. "Is Malik here?"

"Negative. He's north of here at one of the hospitals taking care of some business."

"Great. What timing to be working on something else."

"He says that it could result in more leads to discovering who the leader of the terrorists is. Frankly, if taking out the leader is the only way for us to win, then I gladly support what Malik is doing."

"As do I. I trust him to do what's best for us."

"…and that's all I know so far." After finishing my monologue, I took my first deep breath. My throat felt dry, so I made a mental note to drink some water later. Anthony simply sat there with an intrigued look in his eyes. He hadn't spoken a word since I started telling him everything I knew about the terrorists. However, I did keep out the information about the assassins, the timekeeper, and the twelve targets, thinking that he didn't need to know about that right now.

"I see. So this friend of yours can be trusted?"

"I trust him fully with my life. He's a good friend and whatever he's told me, it's true." Even though I haven't told you everything, I thought.

"Interesting. So he thinks that my friend John Berkley has something to do with the terrorists?"

"That's exactly right. Now it's your turn. Who is John Berkley?"

Anthony leaned back against the hospital wall with a deep sigh. Meanwhile, two nurses with a patient loaded on a gurney rushed past, forcing lucario to step out of their way. I didn't fail to lose eye contact with Anthony. "That's…a long story."

"Then make it short and sweet."

Anthony grinned for but a second before his face became like stone. "Well, how shall I start? John Berkley isn't his real name?"

That struck me as surprising. "Why is that?"

"Because we worked together in the Unova Division of the International Police, which means my name, Anthony Taylor, isn't my real name either. I can't tell you our real names because that's a serious breach in protocol. Anyway, John and I were very good friends within the International Police. He was several years my superior and worked in a different group of our Division."

"What did he work on in that group?"

"Cyberspace defensive systems. It was always the theory of those higher up in the International Police that with the dawn of the computer age, the world was now more at risk from cyberspace attacks. They're actually right. I mean, think of it. Banks now run all of their records in the computer. If a hacker attacked the banks, it could cause serious damage for the clients of that bank. And that's minor compared to what could happen. So many of the primary systems of very sensitive installations are run by computer, a terrorist could hack through and cause massive havoc. So it's was a valid concern for the International Police and a concern for the government; so much of a concern that they pumped billions of dollars into a project that would protect us from cyberspace attacks. That's where John and his group came in. John was a professional computer genius; top of his class and the leader of the group. Anyway, five years ago, with commissions from the government and plenty of money to back up the research, John and his team got to work. Being the computer genius he was, he practically designed and created the entire system. And we're not talking one cyberspace wall of defense with a simple coding. He designed and built tens of thousands of firewalls with more complex coding than anyone had ever imagined. He went all out on it. No two firewalls were even close to being similar in their coding. Each one was unique and complex and extremely strong against attacks. And then he went over the top with something that earned him the nickname, 'Overkill'."

"What?"

"He doubled the number of firewalls with new walls that weren't designed to hold off an attack, but instead to let it through and pinpoint where the attack was coming from. Think of like a battlefield with a huge fortress. The fortress has huge stone walls to protect the inside. But then, they built a bunch of wooden walls around the stone walls. The wooden walls weren't meant to hold off the enemy, just to pinpoint where their attack was taking place. And it's the same case here. He built totally new walls with the same uniqueness specifically for allowing someone to attack, thus pinpointing their location for the authorities to deal with. It was brilliant. And that's where he got the nickname 'Overkill'. Everybody thought he was crazy for what he did. I mean, the entire world doesn't even need half of the firewalls he built."

"But he still built them?"

"Yup. Oppelucid City became the official testing ground for each new firewall. That's where he and I met. It was soon after he built the 'wooden' firewalls. We would have an agent in the city try to hack through any firewall in existence and then I would lead the team that would try to find him thanks to the firewalls that pinpointed his location. My team proved it to be an efficient system. After that, I helped with the testing of every firewall in Oppelucid City. That's why the city is so secure from hackers and crime. Every firewall ever designed by John's team is still in existence. That's more firewalls than I can count. There are not that many government or primary systems in the city for that many firewalls, so what they do is the firewalls go through a cycle. Every day, a new firewall comes into play over a certain system. And it cycles again the next day. Since John built those firewalls, Oppelucid City has been the safest city in the entire world."

"What happened to John Berkley after all that?"

"Well, he apparently earned more enemies than friends through his firewalls and someone tried to kill him. He convinced the Police to fake his death to the public and he entered into a premature retirement from the police. They gave him the name John Berkley, a new lifestyle, and he left to live elsewhere. Never did find out who tried to kill him. All was peace and quiet with him until the car crash nine and a half months ago that killed him. I led the investigation into his death, thinking that it was murder rather than a crash, but didn't find anything that would suggest that. That's it about him. I don't know why he would be on Orion's timeline."

I mused over the data. It all seemed very basic. But one thing struck me as strange. The first attacks this morning took place in Oppelucid City. They were the herald of the day's events, a symbolic victory signaling the terrorists' eventual takeover of the region. How did those attacks slip through the system? "What about this morning's attacks in this city? They say that someone had hacked through the firewalls to keep the security systems from identifying the attackers. Is that even possible?"

Anthony shook his head. "No, it isn't. I know those firewalls better than the media, and I can tell you plainly that it's just not possible to simply hack through them unseen."

"But someone could hack through them?"

He shrugged. "Well, yeah. Firewalls are powerful, but not invincible. If you have enough experience and time, you can hack through any wall. The problem I have with that theory is that it's not possible for anyone to have done it unseen. That's the real issue, even if someone could hack through the wall."

"So how could someone on the outside have done it?"

"I don't know. I remember a conversation I had with John once long ago. I asked him the same question if someone could hack through from the outside? He simply said, 'You know, it doesn't matter how many walls I build. Someone can break through. But doing it unseen is quite impossible.'"

"Did he say anything else? Maybe a weakness in the walls themselves?"

"Actually, yes. I remember once he said, 'The greatest weakness in these walls is their creator.' But how is that a weakness if their creator is dead?"

"Master." Lucario said. "A craftsman knows his craft better than anyone. What if…"

I immediately caught onto what lucario was suggesting and I voiced it aloud for everyone to hear. "What if John Berkley didn't die."

Silence, except for the hustle and bustle of nurses. Anthony started laughing. "Ha ha ha. Are you joking? John Berkley's dead. I told you that."

"You led the investigation into his supposed death. Did you ever find his body?"

Anthony's laughter died away as he thought of that. "No. Come to think of it, we only found his car, but never a body. We assumed it had been dragged off by pokemon looking for food, but we never found any evidence."

"The greatest weakness in any wall is its creator. John Berkley knew those firewalls inside and out. What if he joined the terrorists and they faked his death?"

"No. He couldn't have joined while within the International Police. We would have found out. The International Police keep as close an eye on their own people as they do on the bad guys."

"Well then, what if he was a terrorist all along."

"Master." Lucario started to communicate in my mind. "You do know what that means."

"Yes, I know what it means lucario." I responded mentally before refocusing on Anthony. "Come on. Wrack that brain of yours and tell me I'm wrong."

"It's just not possible. The International Police conduct thorough background checks on everyone who enters. They don't stop on those checks until they know every dirty secret you have. How could John have been a terrorist without the International Police knowing?"

"Anthony, I have just witnessed the most secure city in the world attacked twice in one day, a building collapse in Castelia City, and the terrorist succeed in taking over the entire region in about an hour. Something like a terrorist agent infiltrating the International Police doesn't surprise me right now. And it fits into the puzzle. It explains how the terrorists can move their agents throughout the region without anyone knowing. It explains how they could attack Oppelucid City and how they can keep an entire fleet just off the coast without anyone seeing it. They've infiltrated every defensive line throughout the region." I remembered back to what I had told Drayden: where one least expects the enemy to attack is where they'll surprise him. "No one would expect the terrorists to break through the firewalls, which makes it the perfect place to attack. They've infiltrated it and have control of it. They practically built it! It explains everything. We have to go." I stood up and readied myself to leave.

Anthony stood as well. "Where are you going?"

"We're going back to Drayden. He's about to need a whole lot more help against the terrorists."

"Why is that?"

"Think of it Anthony. If John Berkley really was a terrorist agent, then that means that the terrorists have been planning today's events for…how long was he in the International Police?"

"Joined about seven years ago."

"Okay. That means that the events of the last twenty-four hours are the results of at least seven years of planning. And for seven years of planning to work even now in circumstances not even the best strategist can predict, that means that whoever's calling the shots has taken into consideration the possibility of some cities holding out against the invasion."

"Hold on. What makes you think all of that?"

I started walking down the hall with lucario following towards where Sapphira should have been. Over my shoulder, I cried, "Because I can get into his head now. This battle isn't over yet. This city is about to face the biggest offensive ever seen. Are you coming to help or what?"

"No. I have to stay here to look after Lila."

I stopped in the hall and turned back to face him. "You aren't getting it, are you? This hospital isn't safe for either of you. We need to get back to Old City."

"But I can't leave Lila here. I made a promise to John Samuels."

Oh, for crying out loud. I growled under my breath. "Fine. Go and fetch Lila. We leave in five minutes."

"Wait! You're crazy. We can't take a little girl who's just been through experimental brain surgery on a car ride through a wrecked city."

"You have a better idea? Fetch her quick or we'll leave without you. There are hospitals in Old City that can keep her stable. Go now."

Anthony stood up, muttered something incredibly rude things about me and started running down the hall towards Lila's room. I followed from behind while conversing with lucario. "Do you think it's possible for someone have planned out today's events so well in the past seven years?"

"You said it yourself master. We've seen impossible things today. I'm not surprised that someone could have been planning that long."

"But seven years? I may have supposed one or two years, but certainly not seven. Who can plan that long, build an army and keep it hidden in seven years? We may have seen impossible things today, but that's gone beyond impossible."

"I don't know master. It confuses me too. We were still in the order seven years ago."

"That's right. We didn't leave to fight in the Sinnoh League until about five years ago."

While this whole conversation took place, we walked through the hallways until arriving at the coma ward. Sapphira was there, questioning Anthony's motives of moving Lila. "It's okay Sapphira. It's necessary for her safety."

She turned to me with concern on her face. "Are we in danger?"

As much as I wanted to say, "We're always in danger," I decided to replace that with, "I believe that we're about to be. We need to get moving, so if you care for Lila's safety, you'll let Anthony take care of her."

After a brief moment of Sapphira nibbling her bottom lip from concern, she nodded. Anthony rushed into the room and started readying Lila. Sapphira walked in and helped as best she could, undoing the heart monitor and IV tubes. Anthony rolled a wheelchair over for Lila to sit in. With Aura, I studied her condition while watching for nurses. In no time at all, a nurse with a sour look on her face came charging up. "What exactly do you think you're doing, moving her? She's just been through surgery."

I turned to the concerned nurse. "I'm sorry, but it's necessary for her safety. And for the safety of all the other patients in this hospital, I suggest you start evacuating everyone you can to Old City. This city is about to face a serious assault."

The nurse stopped dead in the middle of another complaint. "Um…okay."

"Great. Now hurry along." I flapped my hands to signal her queue to start running off. She took the gesture calmly and started running off to tell someone what I had just said. Refocusing on the situation at hand in Lila's room, I found that Anthony had successfully transferred her to the wheelchair and was currently wheeling he rout of the room. "We all good?" I asked. Everyone nodded. "Great. Then let's move. I have the car waiting out front."

With that, we proceeded down the hall. Before reaching the stairs, I pulled out the two-way radio. Activating it, I said, "Drayden, you there?"

The resulting sound of static was broken by a, "Yes, I'm here. What's going on at your end?"

"I've just learned some new information, which suggests that the enemy has planned ahead for such a situation as Oppelucid City holding out against the initial offensive and they're planning a major attack."

"What kind of information?" I heard a different voice ask.

"Steven, that you?"

"Yes it is Malik. Now, what kind of information?"

"I've just learned that these terrorists have been planning today's events for the past seven years."

Static filled the line as Steven and Drayden on the other side were obviously confused and shocked at the news. Finally, Steven's voice came through. "Are you sure of that?"

"It's the only explanation that fits the puzzle. Seven years ago, a terrorist agent named John Berkley infiltrated the International Police with the intention of building firewalls to protect Unova and the rest of the world."

"For what purpose?"

"To deceive us. Remember what I told you Drayden? Where you least expect the enemy to attack is where they'll surprise you. Anyway, after the firewalls were built, the terrorists faked John Berkley's death in a car wreck nine and a half months ago."

"By golly, that totally fits." Steven sounded like he had just had a light bulb moment. "I remember the leader of the Castelia mercenaries boasting that we were relying on defenses built by the terrorists. What you just said totally fits with that."

"So, if the terrorist leader has been planning for seven years, he or she undoubtedly knew that some cities would hold out against the initial invasion and I'm willing to bet that they've planned for it."

Drayden's voice came back. "What can we expect?"

"I need you to call Yusuf's squad and tell them to blow the train station off the map so the terrorists won't attack from underground. After they're done, they, and every squad outside of the Old City defensive perimeter needs to fall back immediately. Next, inform the hospitals to ready for a wave of refugees from the hospitals in need of hospital care."

"But we can't take any more…"

"Just do it. No complaints. I've already ordered them here to start evacuating the injured. You also need to contact the other hospital. I'm almost out and en route to Old City. Steven…"

"Yes?"

"We need all hands on deck. I want you by my side on the front lines against the new offensive. And anything else you can do to improve the defenses will be most welcome."

"Roger that. Can we expect a heavy pummeling?"

"I wouldn't call it pummeling because you _will_ improve the defenses to keep them out. Am I understood?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Malik out." I shut off the radio just as we reached the staircase. I opened the door and said aloud, "Lucario, use psychic. Anthony, keep your hands on the chair just in case. Sapphira, walk on ahead." Sapphira entered the staircase and started to carefully walk down the steps while the wheelchair followed, levitating over the ground with Anthony holding on. I entered last, closing the door behind me.

8:13:57

8:13:58

8:13:59

8:14:00

Dracous paced, containing his emotions so as not to release any sign of impatience for news. Castelia City had fallen and was expected to fall under complete control within the next hour. The attacks on Icirrus City and Mistralton City had begun, while his forces on the far side of the region rapidly gained ground in Black City. Driftveil would fall under complete control within the hour on the same timeframe as Castelia City. Soldiers and tanks, backed up by helicopters, now marched northwards to support the troops holding the foothold in Nimbasa City. The Nacrene City gym leader had already surrendered along with her city. In fact, almost every gym leader throughout the region had surrendered when faced with the invasion. Now, Dracous thought to himself, it was only a matter of time before Oppelucid City fell as well.

In the midst of his pacing, Dracous encountered one familiar agent working hard at his station. He walked around the station to see three computer screens covered in coding that flitted off and on the screens. The man working studied the coding with eyes like those of a Staraptor to seek the patterns hidden within. "What's your status Agent Berkley?"

John Berkley never broke eye contact with his computer screens or hardly blinked. He simply stated, "Slowly. It will take a while longer to break through the firewalls of Kanto and Johto."

"How much longer?" Dracous hid the concern penetrating his mind. With Kanto and Johto untouched by the terrorist attacks, they stood as the top contesters in case the regional governments decided to counter the invasion of Unova. The capability to break through their security systems and attack them without fear of discovery would prove invaluable to attack the regions.

"Not much longer. You can be attacking the Kanto and Johto Regions as early as tomorrow as soon as I break through this coding."

"I thought you said you had designed every system. That's what your mission in the International Police was Agent Berkley, to build every defensive system in the world so that only you can break through."

"And I did for Unova, Sinnoh, and Hoenn. I'd really appreciate more respect for my accomplishments sir. No one else has delivered three regions on a silver platter quite like I have." John Berkley broke eye contact with the screen for just second to capture a glimpse of the high commander's features. The face could have created thunderstorms in the sky; John Berkley quickly looked away, inwardly chiding himself for his foolish words. "I only designed the baseline coding for Kanto and Johto security systems. If I had done any less than that, this task would be impossible to accomplish in the present timeframe. I can only give tomorrow at the earliest that you'll be able to attack."

"Fine. Carry on." Dracous walked off and studied the table and Unova's map. With a cunning eye, he studied the data pouring in from all over the region. He noted with grim satisfaction the troop movements as they spread across the region. With the mercenaries scattered in force across the entire region, they provided the footholds and the freedom fighters connected them together like dots. No wonder the invasion had been so simple to achieve.

A hologram displaying more data from Castelia City appeared in the air in front of Dracous' face. The data explained imprisonment of trainers and other resistant fighters. Data like that could only transmit safely thanks to the breaking of the firewalls. It was an old assassin tactic. If you attack the strongest defenses of the enemy, you can surprise them. Or in this case, build the strong defenses of the enemy, and you can crush them easily. It makes me wonder, Dracous thought to himself. Has Malik discovered it yet? It sometimes disturbed Dracous how Malik could use that smart mind of his to figure things out. How many more clues did he need before things came to light? Possibly, Sapphira's job would reveal everything.

However, to accomplish her job, she would require a distraction. Dracous waved down a passing commander and ordered him to join him at the table. The commander, the leader of the Oppelucid City operation, saluted smartly. "High commander. What do you require of my services?"

"Commander, I want you to rally the forces in Oppelucid City for an assault to break the enemy defensive line."

The commander started, his face covered in shock. "But sir, it would be a slaughter. The enemy is too well dug in."

"Then pull as many soldiers from around the city as you can for the assault."

"Wouldn't that leave us open to counterattack sir?"

Dracous turned on the unfortunate commander with a face full of rage. "Do you dare question me?"

Other commanders throughout the room stopped what they were doing to gaze upon the scene. The Oppelucid City commander literally shook from extreme fright in front of the high commander and sweat dripped from his brow. Every commander from day one learned never to make the high commander angry in the least. The Oppelucid City commander saluted shakily. "Sir. Never did I doubt you. I will follow your orders to the letter."

Dracous smiled inwardly while maintaining his angry persona on the outside. Commanders needed reminding of their humble roles in his plans. The plan for Oppelucid City would indeed work. It would lead to a classic win-win situation. If they dared counterattack, they would break their own line for the primary assault that would shortly follow the mercenaries. If they did not counterattack, then a concentrated assault would surely break their lines. Oppelucid City would be his within the hour.

Sapphira couldn't help but fidget during the drive returning to Old City. Ever since leaving the hospital, nervousness kept pestering her mind. She looked around to the back seat where the comatose Lila and the ever watchful Anthony sat comfortably. Anthony stared out the window at the ruins of the once grand city. Pivoting her head, Sapphira's eyes froze on Malik. Surprisingly, his eyes were closed, but he still steered around obstacles with steady hands. It must be Aura, Sapphira thought to herself. With an inward squeak of fright, she wondered if with Aura, Malik could read people's minds. What if he knew about the phone call she had received? Sapphira, settle down, she told herself. If he could read minds, you wouldn't be in the same car as him at this time. Why the bloody #!*% did Dracous have to call her at that moment.

Malik opened her eyes and looked at her. "You okay? You seem a bit preoccupied."

Sapphira nodded. "Yeah…yeah, I'm fine. I'm just nervous about Lila."

Anthony in the back looked away from the window. "You have nothing to worry about Sapphira. Lila's safe with me back here."

Sapphira faked a sigh of relief and looked back at Malik. He still studied her with eyes full of curiosity. Oh crap, Sapphira thought. Maybe he can read minds. She sat back in her seat and focused on controlling what she thought of. To her extreme dismay, the more she tried to control what she thought of, the more she thought of it. In the space of a few seconds, she had accidently reviewed everything Dracous had told her. If Malik could read minds, he might know everything now.

Suddenly, Malik shouted a warning and turned the steering wheel sharply to the right. The car veered and skidded. The front bumper crashed into a pair of dumpsters on the sidewalk. The resulting impact caused the front hood to crumple and the airbags to deploy. Sapphira screamed, only to be cut off when the airbags deployed in her face. Her body flew forward into the bag, which forced all the air out of her lungs. Her head shot back into the seat, causing more discomfort. The airbags deflated as the car came to a halt. Malik jumped out of the car while Sapphira looked back at Anthony, who was holding onto Lila with all his might. "Is Lila fine?"

Anthony nodded and started to gasp out for air as though he hadn't inhaled for long minutes. "She's fine. What happened?"

"I don't know."

Another explosion filled the sky above my head when lucario's aura sphere overpowered the incoming hyper beam, sending shock waves ripping through the air. I knelt to the ground to maintain a low level of gravity and to hold my head down away from the explosion. Garchomp, ever faithful to his trainer, jumped in front of me and leaped again into a crowd of enemy pokemon. Blaziken followed from a distance to back up garchomp. Meanwhile, lucario remained at my side to provide ranged support.

A voice yelled from my side and I instinctively reached for the radio. "Malik! Is everything all right? We're seeing explosions from your location."

I pushed down the button to reply. "Yeah, we're fine. The enemy caught us off guard on the highway. We're stuck without transportation and about three fourths of a mile from the defensive perimeter around Old City."

"Roger that. Can you hold out for just a little longer? We're sending help."

"Yes, but make it quick. These guys mean business." I stowed the radio and contacted lucario. "We need to fall back to a defensible position. Anything in visual range?"

"Yes master. There's a building that can provide plenty of cover and an overview of the street forty-seven yards down the street."

"Excellent. Call back garchomp and blaziken and have them cover our backs. I'll take those three to the building."

"Understood master." Lucario leapt forward into battle to aid his comrades and communicate their slow withdrawal to the building.

In a single leap, I cleared the distance back to the car where Sapphira was in the process of helping Anthony extract Lila from the car. "Is everyone all right?"

Sapphira nodded. "Yeah, we're all right. What's going on?"

"We're under attack. It looks like a concentrated assault by the mercenaries in an effort to break through our lines."

Anthony looked up with shock in his eyes. "Are we in danger?"

"Not yet. The mercenaries aren't strong enough in numbers to break through our lines, even with a concentrated assault. That means the only reason why they would attack so recklessly is because they will soon be backed up by an even larger assault."

"Like that one you were telling Drayden about?"

"Exactly. We're still three fourths of a mile from Old City and in need of immediate protection. Lucario's found a building that will provide the cover we need so we need to get moving now."

Sapphira straightened up on her crutches. "Right. Can you help with Lila?"

"Yeah." I reached down and helped pull Lila out of the car. With the battle raging behind me, I hefted Lila and carried her in my arms. "All right. Let's get going." We started rushing off to the south. I sent mental signals to lucario, telling him to begin the slow retreat. Lucario replied with a serious warning signal. Too late, I realized what the warning meant. A hyper beam cut through the air from a high building, striking the car we had just evacuated with such ferocity, it collapsed asunder from the massive force of the explosion. The shockwave hit us before the wave of heat, throwing us like rag dolls through the air. Midair, I managed to pivot my body so that I landed as a cushion for Lila's prone form. I landed on the pavement several feet away and the air in my lungs escaped through my mouth. Coughing, I realized that my sense of hearing had suddenly been compromised. A loud ringing resonated in my ears. I could still hear the sounds of battle, but they sounded as though someone had stuffed dozens of cotton balls into my ears to muffle the noises. I reached out with Aura, looking for possible danger, but also for Anthony and Sapphira. With a feeling of shock, followed shortly by desperation, I found that I couldn't reach out with Aura anymore. Everything with Aura was blurred beyond the point of recognition. I could feel the presences of people and pokemon still, but not who they were. Thankfully, my connection to lucario still remained, if only a little severed.

Speaking of lucario, he and the others jumped our way, vaulting over entire cars to reach us, Lucario landed next to me. "Master, are you alright?" he asked, transmitting feelings of concern.

I slowly nodded, but my ears still rang. "Somewhat. I can't sense around with Aura. It must be a more serious concussion. What about the others?"

"Anthony's unconscious and Sapphira's bleeding pretty badly from a cut in her side. I think she was hit by a heavy piece of shrapnel from the explosion."

"We need to get moving now. Can you pick up Lila?"

Lucario nodded and reached down with his arms to pick her up, being careful not to cut her on his spikes. "She's still fine, but I wouldn't suggest letting her fly like that again master."

I nodded as I picked myself up off the ground. The impact with the solid asphalt had caused soreness to penetrate my body in a thousand different places. My pants also were torn in places from scraping against the ground. "Lead me to the others –"

Multiple figures started appearing all around us. Lucario growled menacingly, and I looked around, trying to keep my expression calm. They wore militarist uniforms and were accompanied by pokemon who looked as though they had been through serious training. The men wielded machine guns and pistols, which they proceeded to point our way. "Stay right where you stand!" yelled one of them. A houndoom, a pokemon rarely seen in Unova, ran up to sniff me. Lucario snarled menacingly. I mentally ordered lucario to settle down.

From the crowd of men, one walked out. He wore a gray colored uniform and dark green vest. A metal helmet protected his head and I could faintly hear the sounds of radio transmissions from the headset attached to the helmet. He studied me with a serious glare. I returned the serious stare without any show of fear. The man snarled at my defiance and swung a fist to punch me. Without a blink, I moved swiftly to block the oncoming fist with two arms against the man's arm. With the same practiced agility, I wrapped my arms around his and shoved in two directions at once. The sharp sounding crack followed by the man's scream told me that I had succeeded in my mission. I let go, allowing the man to caress his broken arm. "You #!*% !" he shouted at me. "I'll teach you some manners for that! No need to take you prisoner! Men, kill him!"

8:24:57

8:24:58

8:24:59

8:25:00

I quickly scooted back to lucario while dozens of burly men around us readied their weapons to kill us. "Well lucario," I conversed mentally with my life-long companion. "It's been a lot of fun."

Lucario nodded. "Yes master. It has been a lot of fun." He carefully set the comatose Lila on the ground behind us so that she hopefully wouldn't get shot. Lucario stood up, brushed dust off of his arms, and stood beside me, waiting patiently and defiantly for the oncoming barrage of bullets.

I smiled and sent sensations of happiness to lucario, who replied with confusion. "What is it master?"

"I was just thinking of how funny it would be if someone were to rescue us right now."

"It would be wonderful master. But who can?"

I mentally pointed to beyond the crowd of men. "Them."

We both ducked to the ground at the exact same time three hyper beams exploded in front of us. The unsuspecting men were thrown about along with their pokemon. The three hyper beams had burned craters into the pavement. The smoke cleared and I stood up to watch the show. About a dozen trainers from the north came charging in with their pokemon, guns blazing. Caught completely by surprise, the enemy pokemon couldn't respond with their defensive attacks and fled. Men, dazed by the explosions, also ran. At the forefront of the attack, a trainer, accompanied by a typhlosion, a mienshao, and a latios, ran towards us shouting, "Hey! You alright?"

I nodded and waved. "Yes Yusuf, we're fine. Thanks for the rescue. It was perfect timing."

"You're welcome. We were just on our way back from the train station. Are you the one who ordered the retreat?"

"Yes, I did. Have you made sure that the terrorists can't use the train station?"

Yusuf nodded with a grim expression. "We buried the entire station for safe measure before returning. So why did you call the retreat?"

"I received new intelligence that suggests that the terrorists have been planning today's events for the past seven years."

Yusuf's mouth dropped open from complete shock. "Are you serious? Seven years?"

"Yes. It explains how they've been able to plan every move and how they've built up such a large army. They've infiltrated deep into Unova in that time."

"So everything's that's happened in the past twenty-four hours is all a result of their seven years of planning?"

"That's just what I said. And it also means that they've most likely prepared for every possible scenario, including the possibility of a city like Oppelucid City resisting their invasion. I believe that they're planning a massive assault that we need to be ready for and this is just the beginning. We need to get back to Old City as soon as possible."

Yusuf nodded vigorously. "Absolutely. I have some armored cars with me that we can take to shorten the journey. But we have to get going right now."

Moments later, armored cars rolled up and received the comatose forms of Anthony and Lila. Sapphira also loaded up in of the armored cars, since her crutches had broke during the attack. I and my pokemon chose to run alongside the armored convoy in hopes of protecting it from further attacks by the enemy. Within seconds of everyone loaded up, we were off, traversing the ruined streets of the city.

The scenery during this trip differed greatly from the journey earlier to the hospital, where the city looked more like the site of a natural disaster and less like a battlefield. Now the opposite was true. Craters filled the streets, forcing us to move slower than wished. Whole skyscrapers leaned dangerously in one direction or another under the strain of having multiple explosions affecting its steel structure. The tops of some towers simply gave way and fell to the ground, causing an avalanche of steel, concrete, and burning embers. Fires still burned throughout the city, though it seemed more fiercely than before. The black smoke rose for miles above the city until settling at a certain height, thus creating a ceiling of black clouds that blotted out the stars and moon which were normally visible at that time. The ash was the worst production of the battlefield in my opinion. It covered the ground like a layer of snow and flurried into the air as we passed. I knew not from what the ash came from; whether it was the burning of paper or wood, or perhaps the remains of humans. In fact, the whole city stank of what smelled like burning or rotting flesh. My mind repulsed at what could be taking place for such a stench to pervert the air.

Upon reaching Old City, I found that the overall situation hadn't improved any. Many of the historic buildings in the city had crumbled in flames. Piles of rubble filled the streets. Huge bonfires lit up the sky unchecked, with no one available to extinguish them. The faces of people we passed in the streets told the whole story of the horrors of war. I glanced over at the armored car next to me. Through the window, I glimpsed Sapphira turning her face away so as not to witness the atrocities that surrounded her.

We arrived at the pokemon center, where we unloaded from the cars and entered the center. Pokemon received immediate care while nurses checked us for injuries. Lila and Anthony were carted off to one of the other hospitals for more medical help. I sat down next to Sapphira at one of the benches in the center. The whole place had changed dramatically thanks to the war raging outside. People had forcefully removed the entire store and restaurant area to make room for the wounded. Nurses rushed left and right with audinos to help with people. One nurse walked up to us and handed me a bowl of water and some bandages. "Excuse me, but can you take care of the girl's injuries? I'm far too busy right now."

I took the bowl of water and bandages. "Sure. Go and care for others."

The nurse smiled and rushed off without another word. I shifted my position on the bench to face Sapphira and dipped a small cloth towel into the water. With a steady hand, I reached up and started padding her face with towel. Sapphire didn't seem to mind and continued to stare forward, as if shell-shocked. Only when I accidently touched the deep cut in her forehead, did she wince and refocused on the scene. "Sorry." I apologized softly.

"It's…its okay." I continued to dab the towel in water and cleaned up Sapphira's face. Dried blood and dust fell off with the touch of the moist towel. Once the entire area around her cut was cleaned, I applied thin pieces of cloth. Sapphira winced again and her hand shot up to her head to stop me. "That hurts."

"I'm sorry, but it has to be done. Can you hold those pieces of cloth there for me?"

Gingerly, she held the pieces of cloth to her wound while nibbling her bottom lip from the pain. Meanwhile, I picked up one of the rectangular bandages, ripped off the piece of paper to reveal the sticky edges of the bandage, and slowly placed it on top of the wound. Sapphira removed her fingers, allowing me to apply the bandage securely to her forehead. Finished, I made sure no blood could still seep through. Satisfied with the first aid I had prescribed, I took Sapphira's hands and studied them for cuts and bruises. Several showed up to observation, which I proceeded to clean and bandage. Sapphira winced as the stinging pain from her injuries entered her mind, but remained cooperative through the entire procedure.

After finishing with her hands, I prescribed medical aid to her arms, until I noticed several individuals approaching us. The first was Yusuf, whose injuries looked worse in the light of the pokemon center. Dirt and grime covered his face, to the point where he looked like a coal miner. My pokemon and his followed him, looking refreshed, thanks to Nurse Joy. Trailing behind them was Drayden and Steven. I nodded at them, learned the condition of my pokemon from lucario, and returned to my work of cleaning Sapphira's wounds. "How are things out there?" I asked, cleaning the dirt from Sapphira's right elbow.

"Pretty bad." Drayden replied. "It's a good thing you knew that this second assault was coming. We managed to withdraw all of our squads aside from Yusuf's just before they hit us. They've primarily focused their attacks on the north and east sides, but we're prepared for other attacks as well. Good call. How exactly did you know?"

"I knew the terrorist leader had been planning for at least seven years. He's already shown extreme patience in his attacks, waiting for opportune moments to attack. You give me seven years; I can theorize every situation and every scenario that could remotely take place when I conduct an invasion on the world. They knew that Oppelucid City was the most likely city to survive the invasion, so they must have prepared for it. As spread out as we were, even the little bit we were, they would have crushed us easily."

"Well, you were right on the money. At the same time they attacked us, Black City fell and the Elite Four and Champion were imprisoned. Icirrus City and Anville Town have also fallen. We're the last major resistance to their invasion."

I applied the bandage to the cut on Sapphira's elbow and started working on her other arm. "Are the other regions doing anything?"

"No. They don't want any more people to die, so they're staying out of it."

I found another cut on Sapphira's arm and started cleaning it. However, in the back of my mind, I could only think of what to do about the invasion. The doors to the pokemon center opened and Trisha entered with three others, each carrying a box full of bandages. After depositing the boxes at Nurse Joy's desk, Trisha saw us and excused herself from her work crew to greet us. "Hey guys."

We all muttered our greetings. Trisha looked at her brother, the only one who hadn't replied, and said, "My, you look awful."

Yusuf turned his head to eye his sister. "You think? I was just in the thick of a warzone and you think I look awful?"

"What do you want Trisha?" I interrupted so as to avoid a sibling squabble.

She turned her attention on me caring for Sapphira's wounds. "Did you find Sapphira's friend?"

"Yeah. She's being taken care of in another hospital."

"Great. That's great news. I'm also here to tell you that the enemy is attacking in the south and the defenders there need help."

Drayden sighed. "Then I'd best get back to the command center to organize the defense before joining them."

Steven turned to leave. "I'll go to the south defenders."

Yusuf turned as well followed by his pokemon. "I'll join you."

After applying the last bandage to Sapphira's left arm, I stood up. "I'll go as well. Lucario, stay here with Sapphira. I'll call if I need you. Blaziken, garchomp, come with me." Lucario replied with a signal of assent. Blaziken and garchomp followed me out of the pokemon center. Outside, fresh fires could be observed climbing into the sky to the south where the new battles were taking place.

8:49:57

8:49:58

8:49:59

8:50:00

Sapphira watched Malik leave, uncertainty gnawing at her mind. After all the care and protection that Malik had offered her, could she really turn against him? She had grown accustomed to his presence. He was so strong and caring. And that was about the greatest feature of him: he cared for people. Not for any particular reason like an attraction or anything like that. He cared for others because they were people like him. Such care seemed limitless, and he was willing to do anything.

Sapphira shook her head, trying to banish the thoughts from her head. Where were all these thoughts of Malik coming up in her head? Did she actually have feelings for the man? I've only met him today, Sapphira reminded herself. We don't have anything in common. Well, except for the part about them both losing their parents when they were young. But besides that, they had nothing in common. He was some hotshot trainer from nowhere belonging to a secret organization and she was a traitor to those who trusted her.

Okay Sapphira, get a hold of yourself; she chided herself. Just focus on the job to be done. If you're going to do this, you'd better do it now. Carefully, she stood up. Trisha looked at her curiously. "Where are you going?"

"Out for a walk. You want to come?"

Trisha looked nervously around. "With the entire city under heavy siege? I don't think you should go."

"It'll be fine. I have eelektross to protect me. Besides, lucario can come along to protect us. It'll be fine."

"Well…" Trisha sighed. "I guess I could use a change of scenery. It's depressing in here with all of these injured people."

"Well, thank you." Sapphira replied sarcastically. "I'm sorry my injuries are making your day depressing."

Trisha shook her head. "No, no, no, that's not what I meant. I'm sorry. Let's go for a walk."

Sapphira smiled. "Great. Lucario, do you want to come? I'm sure Malik would want you protecting us."

Lucario's eyes pierced through the air and met Sapphira's. Under that stare, Sapphira could just shiver. It felt as though lucario was staring into her soul and studying her deepest feelings. Finally, lucario nodded. Sapphira resisted the urge to sigh with relief and smiled instead. "Awesome. Let's go." With that, Sapphira, Trisha, and lucario all walked out of the pokemon center.

Outside, not a single light shined above their heads in the sky. Rather, massive flood lights revealed the broiling black clouds from multiple fires. Sapphira theorized that from a observing position a couple of miles from the city, the entire metropolis would appear as a massive bonfire. Every now and again, a flying pokemon and rider would cross into the floodlight beams, proving that the skies were still defended from attack.

Sapphira started walking down the street trailed by Trisha and lucario. Most of the buildings they passed filled up quickly with injured soldiers and pokemon. Dozens of people rushed to and fro with multiple tasks most likely pertinent to the city's defenses. With Sapphira leading the way with unstable steps wearing her boot down the street away from the hospitals. A two story building on the right held up one of the defense's massive floodlights that illuminated the black clouds above.

Looking to the left, a large object lying in the middle of the town square caught Sapphira's eye. "What's that?" she asked, pointing down the road.

Trisha looked. "Oh, that? That's the helicopter Steven used to escape from Castelia City. He arrived about an hour ago. It's just been sitting there since then."

"That's cool." And exactly what I need, Sapphira told herself, hoping that lucario couldn't read thoughts. "Let's go check it out."

Trisha half grinned, half frowned from uncertainty, but still followed Sapphira down the street to the helicopter. Lucario also followed from behind. Sapphira reached the helicopter first and stood off at a distance. Her eyes studied the twin rotors, the cockpit, and each of the external features. Trisha walked up and stood next to her, while lucario waited behind them. Trisha studied the helicopter. "It's pretty interesting. Do you know how to fly it?"

Sapphira shrugged. "I could probably figure it out."

Silence, aside from distant explosions of distant battles, filled the air. Sapphira fought back the voice in the back of her head urging her to reconsider her job. Finally, she sighed. "Trisha, I'm really sorry."

Trisha looked at Sapphira with a curious expression. "What are you talking about?"

Sapphira whirled around with a pokeball in her hands and threw it like a pro baseball pitcher at lucario.

Explosions rocked the city all around me. With blaziken on my left and garchomp on my right, we charged right into the midst of the battle. About a hundred enemy trainers had been identified on the southern outskirts of the city trying to fight their way into Old City. I with my pokemon, Steven on my right with his pokemon, and Yusuf with his pokemon on my left, charged into the enemy, trying to break their attack lines for other trainers to break through. Blaziken jumped forward with kicks, punches, and bodily tackles, and then jumped back to his previous position. Garchomp also jumped forward with attacks and returned. An enemy liepard jumped in front of me until an aerial ace from zoroark hiding in the shadows took it out. The entire battle seemed to be going well.

Steven and I came close together with our pokemon. He grinned at me with a grim expression. "It feels good to be back in the fray!"

"I agree! This is why people like you and me exist-ahhh!" I cried out as what sounded like a screech filled my entire being. Thousands of invisible daggers pierced into my mind as the screeching sound just grew louder and louder. I held my head in both hands and dropped to the ground, screaming. The pain felt localized only to my head, making it hurt more than anything I had every felt before in my lifetime. Through the fog surrounding my eyes because of the pain, I caught a glimpse of Steven running to my side. "Malik! Are you okay?"

"Can-can't you hear that? That screeching?" Another wave of pain crippled me and silenced my voice. I crumpled to the ground and rolled up into a ball, trying desperately to stop the pain. My hands clawed at my head, removing the bandages from Driftveil City and nearly tearing out the stitches. Still, the pain and the screeching wouldn't stop. My mind felt overwhelmed. All defenses fell.

Suddenly, silence. My ears felt deadened, and I couldn't hear the sounds of battle anymore. Mentally, it felt like someone could study my mind; I felt so exposed. In desperation, I reached out to lucario to call for help. Cold hard shock filled my mind. I couldn't connect with lucario. Not only could I not connect with him, but I also couldn't feel his presence anymore. I looked at Steven, who was shouting for help, but I couldn't hear words. He looked back at me and I, not exactly sure of what I was saying because of my deafness, said, "Steven. Find lucario. I think something's happened to him. Find-." Darkness overtook me, and I let go of consciousness.

8:56:57

8:56:58

8:56:59

8:57:00

All Trisha could do was stare in shock as Sapphira retrieved the pokeball lying on the ground where lucario once stood. Sapphira wasn't grinning or laughing, and the brightness in her eyes had completely left. A new Sapphira stood in her place; a more serious, grimmer, darker one. After picking up the pokeball, Sapphira turned to Trisha with an expression that near frightened Trisha out of her sanity. "Stay out of my way Trisha, for your sake." Sapphira turned and walked over to the helicopter, where she proceeded to unlock the crude chains that held the craft to the ground.

Trisha stuttered a reply. "Wh-what are yo-you do-do-doing Sapphira?"

Sapphira faced her again with that same serious expression. "What is necessary."

"But…but…but…why?"

"Because I have to. I need to. Now stay out of my way."

Trisha gulped. "N-no. I'm not going to let you. Malik will want to hear of this."

Sapphira produced a different pokeball from her belt. "Are you going to intentionally be difficult? Stay out of the way."

"No, I won't. I won't let you get away with this. Lucario was Malik's pokemon."

"Obviously not since I just caught him. Lucario was still wild. Malik didn't own him."

"That…that doesn't matter. Lucario was Malik's friend and companion and I won't let you get away with stealing him."

"Fine." Sapphira tossed the pokeball into the air, producing a white energy that transformed into her eelektross. "Eelektross, thunderbolt." At the command, electricity crackled around eelektross's neck, moving up into his fangs. There, the charge built up until releasing in a powerful stream of electrical energy that cut through the air and struck Trisha in the chest. Trisha screamed and immediately dropped to the ground, as limp as a fish out of water. Satisfied, Sapphira withdrew eelektross and climbed into the cockpit of the helicopter. Multiple buttons, flip-switches, and dials greeted her. Within moments, she had it figured out and was activating the motors. With a high pitched whir, the twin rotors started to spin faster and faster until reaching optimal rpm. Sapphira took a hold of the joystick and steadily lifted the helicopter into the air, climbing higher and faster into the sky until finally disappearing in the clouds of black smoke. Once above the artificial clouds, Sapphira adjusted the rotors to pivot forward and carry the helicopter through the sky to the south, leaving behind Oppelucid City and Malik.

8:59:57

8:59:58

8:59:59

9:00:00


	18. Chapter 18

The following takes place between 9 P.M. and 10 P.M.

Dracous heard the beeping while pacing his office. Looking to the desk, a little blinking red light signaled a call coming in on priority line one. Anticipation sparked his mind into action as he put aside all other present concerns and walked over to his desk. With a simple push, he pressed the button in and asked, "Yes?"

"I did what you asked." Sapphira's voice transmitted clearly.

Dracous smiled, and would have laughed had Sapphira not been able to hear it. At last, the last pieces of his grand plan were rolling into place. "You have lucario?"

"The pokeball with him inside is in my hand right now."

Dracous smiled again. "Good. I trust you left witnesses who could testify to your escape and lead Malik to follow you."

"Yes. And I nearly killed a good friend of mine because of that. When are you going to tell me about my parents?"

"Patience. Give me lucario and I promise that I will tell you everything you want to know. First things first."

Sapphira growled into the com link. "I only agreed to do this because you said you would tell me about my parents. If this turns out to be a farse-."

"It isn't, I assure you. I know everything about your parents and will gladly tell you. It's useless information to me."

"Fine. I'm on my way."

"Hmm. Do one more thing for me. Turn on your helicopter's emergency transmitter."

"Why?"

"Because I want to make sure that Malik does indeed follow you. Lucario is his lifelong friend. As soon as they see your emergency beacon, he'll give chase and you'll lead him here."

"But…why do you want Malik here?"

"Just do it and leave the little details to me."

Silence filled the com link as Sapphira most likely thought up a response. Finally, she replied, "Okay. I'm on my way. Give me ten minutes."

"You have it. Just make sure that lucario is in my hand in that time."

"I will." Sapphira hung up the com link.

Dracous straightened up, his practiced mind working overtime to plan ahead. So many years of theorizing every move he and his opponents could make had led to today. At last, everything he had planned would result in his victory. He would seize his destiny finally.

With confidence in every step, he walked out of his office and marched through the corridors to the central command center. The doors slid aside easily for him as he walked through. Commanders looked up at his approach. Standing at the door, Dracous shouted across the room, "Attention!" Commanders and agents throughout the room snapped to attention, dropping everything they were doing. "New orders!" Dracous shouted. "Begin evacuation procedures of this base! Move all agents and commanders to the bunker base in the mountains to the north! Inform all units across the region to follow Protocol Omega Green effective immediately!"

Commanders and agents across the room exchanged glances and looks of concern. Dracous wondered what thoughts, emotions, and doubts plagued their little minds at the moment. Seconds ticked by as one by one, agents and commanders began moving to fulfill the new directive. Unnecessary computer units were shut off and carried out of the room. The data stream to the central table shut off at the flip of a covered switch and the data already collected was downloaded to hard drives for extraction from the base. Commanders rushed to and fro to communicate the change in directives to the soldiers throughout the region. From across the room, Agent Berkley marched through the bustling crowds to the high commander, who acknowledged his presence with a nod. Agent Berkley returned the nod. "Am I to assume that my services of breaking through the Kanto and Johto firewalls are no longer needed?"

Dracous shook his head. "Negative. I will still need them if you can indeed break the firewalls tomorrow unseen."

"I can."

"Then transfer your data and equipment to the bunker base and you will continue as soon as you arrive."

The obedient agent nodded before returning to his station to unplug his computers. Dracous watched all of the proceedings quietly until an agent walked up to inform him of an incoming communiqué from Naval Commander Deiderich. Dracous walked over to the nearest communications terminal where he heard Commander Deiderich ask about the genuineness of Protocol Omega Green. "It's genuine. I just ordered it. Inform your soldiers."

"I shall. What do we do about the cities that have not yet fallen?"

"Do not worry about them. Had they stood for what is right and true, they wouldn't be in this predicament. Let them live for now."

"Roger that. What about those in the prison camps? If they escape-."

"Don't worry about it commander. Nothing can hinder my plans now. Let what will happen, happen."

"Yes sir. Naval Commander Deiderich out."

Dracous switched off the com link and turned to a commander nearby. "Make sure that this place is empty in fifteen minutes. Any longer, and some expected guests will learn more than they need to."

The commander saluted and passed on the order to everyone else. Dracous marched out of the room and returned to his office. He rummaged through the different drawers, and sifted through files, looking for anything valuable enough to save. He found the file with the names of one hundred and thirty-five former assassins. Turning a page in the file, his eyes fell upon Malik's uncrossed name. It stood out easily as if highlighted. As tempting as it was to adopt the dramatic tone and cross out Malik's name finally, Dracous simply let the file drop to the floor. Where he had found the file, Dracous discovered Malik's wonder device. That was definitely a keeper for future study. The ability to travel to the reverse world would prove valuable in the future if it would work then.

Dracous looked down to the floor where the dropped file laid, Malik's name clearly stood out surrounded by one hundred and thirty-four of his fellow assassins. It seemed fitting letting Malik's name remain uncrossed. Throughout his time in the order of assassins, he stood out from everyone else. He had been so determined, even after his favorite teacher, Gladius, tragically died at the hands of a rampant pokemon. And now, here he was, stoically fighting off Dracous' soldiers. Yes, he stood out. His name deserved to remain uncrossed.

9:16:57

9:16:58

9:16:59

9:17:00

Light flooded my vision as I slowly peeked out from behind my closed eyelids. One big light, like those used in surgical operations, flooded my vision with burning light. I growled, shut my eyes, and moved my arms to block the light. Only then did I realize that someone had stuck IV tubes into my arms. While a big bluish green blob danced in my closed vision, I heard people moving about and saw the giant light move away. Lowering my arms, I dared a peek and opened my eyes. With the light moved away, I could now see clearly and pick out faces in my line of sight. Steven stood over me on the left alongside Drayden and Yusuf stood off to the right. Yusuf smiled and said, "Hey. Welcome back."

Steven pushed a button and I felt the padded mattress – the whole bed I realized shortly – to angle upwards so that I wasn't staring upwards. With a quick scan of the surrounding territory, I theorized that I was in one of the intensive care hospitals in Old City. Outside, a crowd of nurses and doctors mixed with the injured people and pokemon, bustled about. I looked at each of the faces around me. "What happened?"

Steven crossed his arms. "You don't remember? You collapsed on the field of battle while holding your head as though hurting inside."

I slowly reached a hand up to feel my head. A nurse had apparently replaced the bandages I had torn off with new ones to protect the stitching job. "Yeah. There was a loud ringing, or screeching. Didn't anyone else hear it?" Everyone shook their heads. I racked my brain to piece together what had happened before everything blacked out. From the murky blackness of my memories, I pulled one strand out, and it hit me. I sat up straight on the bed, fully awake. "What happened to lucario?" I looked over at Yusuf, who looked over at the pair on the other side of the bed.

Steven sighed before replying, "We don't know. Lucario isn't to be found in Old City. And apparently, someone stole the helicopter I used to get here and escaped from the city."

"It gets worse." Drayden picked up. "We checked the site where the helicopter used to be and found Trisha unconscious on the ground."

My eyes widened. "Is she okay?"

"She's…stable. That's what the doctors are saying at least. She has a huge scar running from her chest to her abdomen; looked like she had been struck by a big electrical surge. The doctors say her heart was stopped for a good three minutes before they could restart it with an electrical shock. Now she's in intensive care, in the next room over, being treated for her burns and other injuries. The doctors told me that with her heart stopped that long and depending on the electrical shock; she's at risk of having brain damage."

"But, I left lucario with her and Sapphira. What was she doing outside of the hospital in the first place?"

Drayden shrugged. "Last time someone saw her, she was leaving with Sapphira and lucario. Don't know why."

I fell back on the bed. What in the #!*% was going on? "What about Sapphira? Where's she?"

Everyone traded looks of uncertainty before Steven replied, "We don't know. She's also missing."

"Could someone had infiltrated the city and kidnapped them?"

Drayden shook his head vigorously. "Absolutely not. Impossible. Security was high and tight. No one could have gotten in, much less kidnapped Sapphira and lucario and stolen the helicopter."

"Why can't you find lucario yourself?" asked Steven.

"Because I can't." I retorted. "Lucario's gone. I can't feel his presence, much less talk to him. It was the same during when the screeching occurred."

"But…how?"

I gave Steven a look of pure frustration. "Does it look like I have the answer to that question?"

Steven held up his hands defensively. "Okay, okay. I was only asking."

"Let's all just cool down and figure this out." Drayden interjected. "What could have happened?"

Yusuf crossed his arms and stared at the floor with an expression of extreme concentration. "Well, if you're right Drayden, no one could have snuck in, kidnapped both lucario and Sapphira, and escaped in the helicopter. So outside forces are out of the question."

"Plus, it doesn't explain the fact that I can't sense lucario's presence. Even if he had been kidnapped, I should be able to feel him at great distances." I clarified.

"How great a distance?" inquired Steven.

"Several miles for communication. But we're so connected by Aura; it would take at least a hundred miles before we were out of range of each other."

"And no helicopter could have covered that distance in that timeframe. So that's definitely off the table." Finished Drayden.

"Okay, so scratch outside kidnappers." Ordered Yusuf. "It had to be someone on the inside. Is there anyone in the security forces that you can think of Drayden who could have done this?"

Drayden paused for a moment to think about it. "It's possible, but I don't know. All of the trainers are locals who have been living in the area for a while. None of them had criminal backgrounds or relations with the mercenaries, much less the terrorists. Still, it's possible."

I sighed. "You guys haven't been paying any attention. They couldn't have been kidnapped because kidnapping doesn't break my connection to lucario."

"What if lucario was knocked unconscious or something?" asked Yusuf.

"Nope. In that instance, we may not be able to communicate, but I could still feel his presence. I similar thing happened in Nimbasa City earlier today."

"Come on. Isn't there anything that could completely break the connection between you and him?"

I shook my head. "Nothing that we've ever experienced before now."

Steven held up a hand. "Why not we leave lucario for a while and focus on Sapphira?"

"At that point," I pointed out. "…you're talking about a billion different scenarios that could have remotely taken place from kidnappers in the inside to alien abduction. I think we need to focus on lucario."

With a deep growl, I tore out the IV tube from my arm and sat up straighter on the bed. Yusuf was midway through making a comment about the impossibility of an alien abduction when I stood up. My legs wobbled for a second and Yusuf grabbed my arms to steady me. "I really don't think you should be standing up right now Malik. Just wait awhile longer."

I pushed Yusuf away. "I can't wait any longer. I need to answers to these questions."

"And where exactly are you going to get them?"

"The one who saw the whole thing happen: Trisha." I reached out to open the only door to my emergency room. Yusuf lunged to block me while Steven grabbed my shoulders.

"Absolutely not!" Drayden yelled. "The doctors said she's in critical condition! If you wake her up in the middle of that medical procedure, you risk her having brain damage!"

"That's a risk I'm willing to take Drayden. This is a critical situation and we all need answers. The sooner we know who's responsible for this heist, the sooner we can figure things out. I'm sure it's related to the terrorists. Now get out of the way."

Yusuf refused to budge. I shook Steven's hands off my shoulders and grabbed Yusuf's hand which held the door closed. Yusuf glanced down at how I held his hand in the exact way to break it at the wrist. He looked up at me and I returned with a cold hard stare. "Get out of my way Yusuf?"

"You can't risk someone's life like that Malik. Especially not my sister's. I'm staying right here."

"No you're not." I reached with another hand, peeled Yusuf's hand off the door and sending an elbow into his face, forcing him to dodge backwards. With my two stronger hands, I bent his arm to force his own elbow into his abdomen, and pushed. Yusuf crashed against the wall and fell to the ground. Steven made a grab for me, but I evaded long enough to get through the door and close it again behind me. I marched down the hall to the next emergency room and entered. Inside, multiple doctors wearing full surgical protection on turned to face me. One with a strange monocle telescope over his right eye shouted, "Hey! You're not supposed to be in here! You're not wearing the right protection!"

"I don't care. Wake her up. I have some questions that need answering."

"You do that and you risk causing her brain damage. Her brain is oxygen deprived as is. You can't wake her up now."

I brandished blaziken's pokeball furiously in front of the doctor's face. "I don't want to say it again! You wake her up or I will, it makes no difference to me!"

"We just can't for someone in her condition-."

"Wake her up! Now!"

A tense moment of silence followed. Steven and Yusuf charged into the room behind me, stumbling to a complete stop upon seeing the pokeball I brandished. The doctors stood silently waiting for someone else to make a move. Even the previous noise outside had stopped at the sound of the commotion. The only sound breaking the tense silence was the sound of Trisha's heart monitor slowly beeping. Finally, the doctor wearing the monocle nodded and walked over to the IV bags while casting worrisome glances over his shoulder at me. With a syringe filled with a clear liquid, he injected one of the IV tubes, allowing the liquid to circulate into Trisha's body. "Okay. She'll be waking up soon. You have one minute before I put her out again."

"That's all I need." I walked alongside Trisha's prone form and waited for her to wake up. Within a few seconds, her eyes fluttered open and she started coughing. "What…what happened? Where am I?"

"You're in the hospital Trisha, in Old City. You were found unconscious on the street where the helicopter used to be. I need you to tell me what happened to lucario and Sapphira."

She turned her head to look at me. "Um, Sapphira. She…" Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Oh my gosh Malik, she did the most awful thing."

"What did Sapphira do?"

"She…she was talking about the helicopter. Then she…she apologized I think. I…asked why. Then she threw…"

Monocle doctor walked up alongside me. "I have to put her out again. Her speech is blurring which means she's risking brain damage."

I grabbed the doctor's wrist to stop him from injecting the IV tube again. "Trisha, I need you to tell me exactly what happened. What did Sapphira do?"

A tear rolled out of Trisha's eye. "I'm sorry Malik. I'm sorry I couldn't stop her."

"What did she do? Tell me!" I didn't mean to shout, but the beeping on the heart monitor had suddenly intensified.

"She…she captured lucario in a pokeball. I tried to stop her, but…" Trisha's eyes snapped shut and she dropped off into unconsciousness. Steven and Yusuf grabbed me and yanked me away from the bed. I realized then that the beeping had become one solid beep that dragged menacingly on. Doctors started to rush about the bed. One brought in the defibrillator pads and readied them on Trisha's chest. "Clear!" A loud thump resonated in the room. The beep continued. "Charging, two hundred! Clear!" Another loud thump filled the room and still the beep continued. "Charging again! Clear!" The third thump struck the walls of the room. This time, the solid beep broke up into a steady beeping as Trisha's heart returned to normal.

In silence, I turned and walked out of the room with Yusuf and Steven trailing. Immediately outside, Steven began his lecture. "That was a stupid, selfish thing to do, endangering a girl's life like that. You should have known better Malik."

His words fell upon deaf ears as I meditated on the new information that had come to light. In my mind, I started to paint the scene. Trisha, Sapphira, and lucario all walked out to the helicopter. Sapphira somehow captured lucario in a pokeball, thus severing the connection between him and me. Then she must have stolen the helicopter after attacking Trisha, probably with eelektross to provide a getaway. Sapphira had betrayed us.

Behind me, I overheard Drayden conversing with Steven. "Hey. Ray just contacted me saying that he's found the helicopter. Apparently, it's activated its emergency beacon and is still moving south-west."

"Interesting. It's like someone wants us to follow." Yusuf replied, clearly concerned.

"I'm going after her." I said in solemn seriousness.

I turned to see Drayden shake his head. "We don't have another helicopter to give chase."

"We don't need a helicopter. Yusuf has a pokemon that can do Mach 1. I'll go on that."

Yusuf stepped up. "You mean we'll go on that. I'll go too. We'll track down that helicopter and bring Sapphira and lucario back. Just send the tracking information to a PDA that I can use."

Drayden nodded. "Sounds good. I'll get that ready for you two. How soon do you need it?"

As though of one mind, both I and Yusuf said at the same time, "Fifteen minutes ago."

9:34:57

9:34:58

9:34:59

9:35:00

Dracous stood proudly on the landing pad as the helicopter above made its descent. Slowly and steadily, the pilot within brought the bird down with easy grace. As soon as the landing gear touched down, the rotors began to slow to a complete stop. Then, the hatch to the cockpit opened with loud clicks and a young woman with flowing blonde hair stepped out. Once her feet touched the steel surface of the landing pad, Dracous held out his arms in welcome. "Sapphira. It's been too long."

She shot him a glare of ice picks. "No. It hasn't been long enough. I told you that I never wanted to see you again and I meant it."

Dracous waved off the comment. "That's in the past. Do you have lucario?"

Sapphira held out a pokeball. "Here he is all safe."

Dracous snatched the pokeball and held it up to a small scanner unit. To his great inward delight, it held lucario. "You did well."

"So are you going to tell me about my parents already? You promised."

"Patience. Malik is on his way. He would like to hear this too."

Sapphira looked completely quizzical. "Why do you want Malik to be here?"

Dracous shot back with a sour look and said, "Because I don't like repeating myself. Wait until he arrives and then both of you can hear. Now come."

They walked alongside each other into the fortress where preparations were nearly complete for evacuation. Helicopter loaded with soldiers took off into the sky to travel to an unknown location to the north. Sapphira gazed about at all of the activity. "What's going on?"

"We're evacuating this facility. With lucario in my possession, the final pieces are in place for me to change the world for the better. Therefore, we no longer need this fortress."

"Are more people going to die?"

Dracous looked at Sapphira and the concern in her eyes. "Yes, some will die. They are necessary sacrifices for the creation of a better world."

"But it's wrong. You shouldn't kill people."

"It's necessary. Their sacrifice will be recognized in the creation of the new world."

Sapphira crossed her arms with a pout and muttered, "How can I trust you?"

Dracous heard the comment and grabbed her arms with a firm grip, forcing her to stop. He leaned down so that his face was level and close to Sapphira's. "You talk of trusting others and yet you don't look at those whom you call you friends."

As she struggled in vain to escape from Dracous' grip, she asked, "Who are you talking about?"

"Malik. How do you know you can trust him? You don't know everything about him."

"I know him. He's my friend and I trust him."

Dracous laughed and let go of Sapphira, who stood their rubbing the circulation back into her arms. In his loud mirth, Dracous stepped away. "Ha ha ha. "You know him? Ha. You actually think you know him?"

Sapphira nodded. "Yes. I know him because he's my friend."

"What friend keeps deep dark secrets from others? Tell me that."

"What secrets?"

Dracous reached into a satchel he wore and retrieved Malik's reverse world device and tossed it to Sapphira. Sapphira caught and started to study it. Dracous gestured to it, asking, "Do you know what that is?"

She shook her head. "No."

"That's Malik's. It has the power to transport a person to and from the reverse world."

"But he told me and others that he had such a device."

"Ah, but do you know how he got it, or where? Not even I know that. Now think about that and tell me that you can still trust him. He's a powerful trainer with the training to kill people and possessing a device capable of transporting him to the reverse world that no one knows anything about. Now tell me that you can still trust him."

Sapphira looked absolutely flabbergasted. "I…I don't…"

"Tell me, do you even know the lie he led, or what happened to him, or what he's done?"

"Not everything, but…"

"But nothing. He's a powerful, dangerous, and unknown trainer whom you can't trust."

"Kind of like you, right?" Sapphira answered with a look of defiance.

Dracous hid his emotions of frustration well and turned to continue walking. "Come along now. We must be ready for when Malik arrives."

"He's going to bring help you know!" Sapphira cried out. "He has powerful friends. Steven, Drayden, and Yusuf. You can't stop all of them."

"Then I guess I'll just have to distract them with something else." Dracous answered over his shoulder. "Now come along. You will be with me when Malik arrives."

Sullenly, Sapphira walked after him into the steel catacombs of the massive fortress, wondering inside the sanctity of her head if she really could trust Malik.

9:40:57

9:40:58

9:40:59

9:41:00

The wind whistled past my ears at a hundred mile per hour. After receiving the PDA with the tacking information from Drayden, I and Yusuf atop latios shot through the sky like a white and blue bullet. Less than a mile out of Oppelucid City, a loud resounding boom signaled out breaking of the sound barrier. Latios had maintained the same aerial position the whole trip since then with arms tucked in and wings angled for least wind resistance. Yusuf and I wore an extra layer of coats for safe measure, as the wind chill factor seemed to quadruple with the massive increase in speed. We also wore masks and breathed from tanks filled with pure oxygen strapped to our backs, since our current speed stole the air from our lungs rather than gave. Neither of us could talk to the other; only communicate with hand signals.

I saw Yusuf in front of me glance at the PDA strapped to his arm to check our position. The helicopter had stopped in the mountainous region of Unova to the south-east. Yusuf flashed me a hand signal. Five fingers. Five minutes to arrival. I stared directly ahead, focusing on the task before us. I didn't know what would await us. Perhaps a trap or perhaps no resistance. I couldn't tell. All I knew was that Sapphira and lucario were there somewhere.

An enormous cumulus cloud blocked our path, but latios continued on through undaunted. I instinctively braced myself for the barrage of wait splashing into my face. The clear plastic over my eyes immediately fogged up with water droplets, I couldn't see a thing. By second nature, I reached out with Aura in desperation to find my location. There was Yusuf in front of me and latios beneath both of us. A cloud had engulfed us, and the atmosphere around the cloud remained clear. As soon as we emerged from the cloud, I carefully reached up to wipe the water off my mask.

What greeted my renewed sight shocked everyone. Emotions of shock emanated strongly from both latios and Yusuf. There, sitting atop one of the mountains in the range, laid the largest structure of steel and concrete I had ever seen, almost completely illuminated in the dead of night by massive lights throughout. It was like a concentrated vertical city, with no outlying suburbs, just towers that rose into the sky like a thicket of spears. Around the base, the mountain dropped off into sheer cliffs to deter even the most determined climber. Even from this distance, I could tell that some of the cliffs dropped off thanks to the machinery of men. Around the base of the massive fortress, hundreds, if not thousands of helipads allowed entrance for those capable of flying. However, not a single helicopter or other such craft occupied the helipads.

Latios slowed to a more reasonable speed for us to observe the castle while he circled around. With Aura, I reached out as far as I could into the structure. The tendrils found the fortress rose forty stories above what would be the top of the mountain, and occupied the mountain about twenty to twenty-five stories further down. At the top of each tower, satellite dishes and long radio towers rose even further, giving the impression that this truly was the command center. The number of lives I could sense inside the massive fortress astounded me even further. Less than a dozen people occupied the entire structure at various points throughout the castle. However, latios flew out at too great a distance for me to truly recognize any of them.

I tapped Yusuf and gestured to one of the helipads along with giving him a thumbs-up to signal the go-ahead. Latios flew in and landed on one of the helipads. I dropped off and removed the mask and nearly depleted oxygen tank. Yusuf did the same, gasped for the cool mountain air, and gazed around him. "Impressive. How long do you think it took to build such a structure?"

I too gazed about, trying to estimate a timeframe. "I'd say around seven years, maybe more."

"Can you find lucario here?"

"No. But there are less than a dozen people here. It's far too quiet for my taste."

"Is this a trap?"

"Absolutely." Yusuf glanced at me with concern etched on his face at what I said. I continued, "But we're still going in. We didn't come all this way just to turn around." I summoned blaziken, garchomp, and zoroark from their pokeballs before leading the way into the facility. Surprisingly, the first massive metal door slid open for us. We stepped through into a well lit entrance hall. If the place had a lobby, this would be it, complete with table and chairs, although I suspected that they were for helicopter team briefings.

A loud beep resounded from above us, where I saw an audio speaker. "Welcome." Said a male voice through the speaker.

I stepped up and stood beneath the speaker. "Where's lucario?"

A deep laugh traveled through the speaker. "You always were straight to the point Malik."

"How do you know my name?"

"Oh, I know a lot of things about you. But all of that will have to wait until later. For now, you should only know this. I want to see you without the company of your friend there. Yusuf, is it?"

"Why do you want to see me alone?"

"Well, for one, Sapphira would really like to see you again after she just betrayed your trust. How disappointing that must be for you, to have such a bright and wonderful girl like Sapphira join up with you on your little quest and then she stabs you in the back. I'm sure it's quite hurtful-."

"Get to the point." I interrupted.

"Yes, she would like to see you. We're located in the central command center twenty floors above your current position. Simply follow the directions."

"And what about me?" asked Yusuf. "Am I supposed to sit here like chopped meat?"

"Oh, heavens no Yusuf. Chopped meat spoils after being left to sit for a long time. Rather, I'm sure Malik would appreciate it if you would precede to the medical center located twenty floors below you and retrieve Orion. He's asleep right now on his gurney ready to be moved out."

I looked at Yusuf, who mouthed the words, "He's trying to split us up." I nodded my agreement. "What if we refuse?" I asked aloud.

"That would be most unwise and unpleasant. You see, I hold all the playing cards with Orion in the medical center where I could order him executed. Or I could kill Sapphira and lucario. You just never know. So what will it be?"

I looked over at Yusuf and nodded. In the space of a few seconds, my expression transmitted every word that needed saying. "I'll come to you and Yusuf will retrieve Orion."

"Excellent. I'm waiting." A loud beep signaled the com channel shutting off.

Yusuf sighed. "This is looking like a classic trap."

I shrugged. "What else can we do? I'm going for Sapphira. You just get Orion and meet us at the helicopter bay."

"All right. Good luck."

"To us all." With that, I loped off down one corridor with my pokemon escort to find the nearest elevator. After finding it, I simply had to step in. None of the buttons worked. Instead, the elevator immediately traveled through the shaft upwards twenty stories. I exited on the twentieth floor and followed the signs on the ceiling that pointed the directions to the command center. Following the sings, I ran down one corridor, rounded a corner, sprinted down another corridor, and rounded another corner. All the while, my pokemon kept up easily, wary for any possible danger. Not encountering any, we rounded a corner, and there found metal doors barring access to the command center. Taking a deep breath, I gave blaziken a nod. He jumped forward with a hi-jump kick and broke down the doors in a single hit. On the rebound, he landed in the exact same place. With the way clear, I took another deep breath, and rushed in.

9:59:57

9:59:58

9:59:59

10:00:00


	19. Chapter 19

The following takes places between 10 P.M. and 11 P.M.

With blaziken, garchomp, and zoroark at the forefront, we charged into the room. Blaziken's wrists caught aflame from the adrenaline rush of entering into battle. Garchomp bared his fangs and zoroark's eyes glowed red as he prepared a night daze attack. The room curved into a circle with a massive domed ceiling extending for many feet upwards. Desks with computer terminals ringed the outer edges of the room on terraces. In the center of the room, a circular table with a black top occupied the center. Very little illumination emanated from the fifty or so lights on the walls around the room. In the shadowed gap between two such lights on the far side of the room, a menacing voice spoke, "Welcome Malik. It's certainly been a long time."

Blaziken jumped atop the table in the center of the room with more flames pouring from his wrists while garchomp adopted a stance for preparing for incoming attacks that I had taught him. "Who are you?" I called out. My voice echoed off the curving walls and ceiling.

"My, have you grown up since I last saw you. I've seen many photos of you from my observers throughout the region, but seeing you in person really makes the age show."

I still couldn't see who it was. With Aura, I felt two presences occupying the wall in the shadows, one male and one female, but couldn't distinguish who they were. I failed to sense lucario's presence in the room though, which was very disconcerting to say the least. What felt most disconcerting though, was what the man had said. How did he know me? "Who are you? Come into the light so that I can see you face."

The man chuckled as though laughing at some inward joke. "You know, I thought I would dress appropriately for the occasion. It's been so long since I've last worn these clothes; I'm surprised they still fit." The sound of set of footsteps resonated off the walls and the man stepped into the light. He wore heavy garments of jet black. A veil covered his mouth and nose, while a hood hid hair from view. Only his dark green eyes pierced through the space of the room with a cold, menacing feel to them. A belt wrapped the robes to his waist, and my keen eyes studied the details that spoke of multiple hidden blades throughout his clothing.

I realized with shock that those robes matched those that assassins wore; the same I had worn yesterday morning. Was he an assassin? How could it be? Every assassin I knew of was dead. "Who are you?" I asked for the third time.

As if by the charm of the third question, the man chuckled again, louder. "You still don't recognize me? I'm insulted. After all those years we knew each other. I mean, it's only been ten years since we last saw each other." He reached up with hands that looked like they had experiencing years of healing from scars and lowered the veil, revealing a mouth twisted into a grin and a nose that had been broken before in multiple conflicts. Next, he pulled back the hood, revealing shoulder length black hair and ears, the right one of which held burn scars. He smiled that menacing smile. "Recognize me now?"

Ten years? Who did I know from ten years ago that looked like him? My mind worked fast, reviewing every memory and every face. Within a second, my mind reported an answer to my questions. I couldn't help but gasp, letting my face reveal the emotions I was feeling at that moment. I unwillingly let my jaw drop and my eyes widen with the shock as a feeling, like icicles the temperature of the moon, stabbed into my heart. It couldn't be. I shook my head and looked again at the figure before me. No, it just couldn't be. "Gl-Gladius? Is…is that really you?"

The man smiled. "Finally, you figured it out. It's me Malik. Though you do not know me as I am now."

My heart skipped a beat and my knees trembled. Part of me repulsed at the knowledge that Gladius, my oldest friend and tutor, was still alive. How was it possible? "But…you died. The lord assassins who went with you to that volcano said you died. How are you still alive?"

He bowed his head slightly. "Yes. My death. Quite an unfortunate experience. In actuality, I only just managed to escape death by a fraction of an inch. My body still holds scars from the experience. When I didn't return, the lord assassins naturally believed that I had died in the line of duty."

"But why didn't you return if you hadn't died?"

He pointed a finger into the air. "Now that is an interesting story worth telling. But first, as I'm sure you've already figured out with those remarkable abilities of yours, we have someone else in this room waiting to hear the story. Come on out my dear." Gladius turned to the shadows where the female walked slowly out. From her emotions, I could feel the fear and the apprehension, but she still walked out.

This time, when the light illuminated her face, I contained the gasp rising in my throat. "Sapphira?"

Sapphira nodded. She didn't wield crutches, but rather walked unsteadily with her booted foot. She smiled meekly at me before being grabbed by Gladius and forced to walk forward some more. "Say hello Sapphira. We mustn't be rude."

She waved a hand shakily in the air and said, "He-hello Malik."

I could hardly believe it. "Wait a second. Sapphira? You knew about Gladius? You knew he was still alive?"

She nodded and started to speak when Gladius started laughing. "Ha ha ha! Yes, Malik, she knew. Not only that, but she was working for me as well. And what a job she did!" He clapped Sapphira on the back roughly, making her cough.

I looked at Sapphira, who stared back with those two sapphire blue eyes. "Sapphira? How could you? I trusted you."

"Please Malik, let me explain."

"Why didn't you tell me? I trusted you. Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"Because…" Sapphira stared into my eyes and burst out into tears and started to cry. In between sobs, she shouted, "Because…Gladius…he's…my father." She collapsed to the floor, balling.

Time stopped. My heart thumped loudly in the room. It felt like an eternity of time passed by. I didn't know exactly how to respond. My tongue felt tied and my mouth went dry. My knees shook and my legs felt like they had been turned to jelly. The icicles stabbed even deeper into my heart, I thought I would start to bleed from the shock. Finally, I found control of my muscles, and shook my head. Next, my tongue loosened. "No. No, that's not possible."

Sapphira was still crying. She shouted again, "It is. Dracous is my father. I…I couldn't tell anyone about him…lest I be put in jail."

"You could have told me Sapphira." I said in as soft a voice as I could muster. "You should have told me. Why did you lie to me? To Yusuf? You told us that your dad died."

"He…did!" Sapphira looked up at me with swollen eyes. "I always considered my dad, the dad who married my mom, to be dead. I never learned about my true father Gladius or my mother, Cameron. I never knew that my father was the same Gladius you had told me about until now. This man…he's just my father biologically. Believe me; I never wanted to be related to him."

"Then…then if that's true, then Cameron is your mother, right?" Sapphira nodded. I focused my gaze of Gladius. "What happened to her?"

"You don't know?" Gladius frowned with a look of evident shock plastered on his face. "How could you not know? Thinking I was dead, Cameron ran off, hardly realizing that she had Sapphira inside of her. In the Sinnoh Region, she fought crime, doing what the assassins were meant to do. I watched from a distance, too…scared to reveal myself to the world." To my complete surprise, I noticed a tear developing in his left eye. "I was proud to be her partner in life. But then one evening, the authorities lured her into a trap and captured her. She stood before a court of one, who decided to convict her to a life sentence in prison. Seven and a half months later, she gave birth to Sapphira in prison, but died in the process, leaving nothing but a wooden pendant. Sapphira was moved from orphanage to orphanage for most of her young life before she could remember, until settling in the Oppelucid City orphanage. I'm sure you know the rest of the story."

"But…but what about you? Why did you do all of this? Why did you do any of this?" I replaced my look of shock with a look of aggression, as if to challenge Gladius to face up to his crimes. "What happened to the Gladius I knew? The Gladius who taught me everything I know about being an assassin? The Gladius who loved and cherished all things good and who loved his wife, and who lived a life of duty to the order? What happened to him?"

Gladius ground his teeth together in response to the aggressive look on my face. "That Gladius, the Gladius you knew, he was a fool. A #!*% fool who thought that it was proper destiny how the order dissolved." He smacked his fist on the table, causing Blaziken to jump into the air to repel whatever incoming attack might arrive. "That Gladius died ten years ago in the volcano! When I survived, I was no longer Gladius! I was then, and still am today, Dracous, the leader of the freedom fighters!"

I couldn't believe what I was hearing with my very own ears. How could Gladius have turned into this monster? "What happened to you?"

Sapphira stood up having run out of tears and wails for the moment and faced her father. "Yes. What did happen to you?"

Gladius – no, Dracous – squared his shoulders, straightened his back, and smirked with obvious pride as he reminisced. "I went out with a new name and new identity to do what the order of assassins was always meant to do. I fought crime and corruption wherever I could find it. I didn't tolerate the existence of even the pettiest crime lord. In every region where crime existed, I exterminated it. The police couldn't stop me. No one knew me. My acts, with words and no pictures, would appear on the frontlines of newspapers throughout the world, as the greatest crime rings and mobs were wiped out in a single night."

Suddenly, his mouth twisted into a snarl. "However, nothing would do. Corruption still existed in the world. No matter how many crime rings I defeated or how many mob bosses I put out of business…and out of this life, corruption still existed in the world. That which the order of assassins was built to protect against filled every nook and cranny of the world. Then, I realized why it was. In the years that the order spent falling back from the regional governments, corruption was fighting back. You may believe that the regional governments, with all those democratically elected officials and judges and law enforcement, were the answer to our prophecy that the order of assassins would leave the world in a better shape. But I realized the truth. The truth is this: the regional governments were corruptions way of fighting back at the order of assassins. We took what appeared to be the answer to our prayers and it left us destroyed, whilst corruption ruled the land. Elected officials taking bribes from the rich. The poor being crushed in every contest. Companies monopolizing the business world that subjugated the poor. Corruption fought back. And it won. Don't you see? The corruption comes from within the regional governments, the same governments that fought the assassins, that ordered extreme action to be taken against us, and that sentenced good loyal assassins like Terran and Cameron to live their lives in prison. That's the regional government you protect. Look at you Malik! You may believe in your own mind that you're going to be the hero, and that you're going to save the day. But look out there at the real world. Even if you were to stop me, those people in government won't hesitate a second to lock you up as an illegal vigilante, just like they did to my wife. She was only doing her duty to the order and to the people of the region who were suffering due to corruption, and they locked her up as an illegal vigilante! Not only that, but they forced her to give birth to a baby in prison without any proper doctor to help her! That's the regional government you protect!

"So when I realized the truth, when I saw the treatment they gave my wife in prison, I knew that this was corruption fighting back at us. So I acted. I fought crime rings, but instead of completely crushing them, I took out the leaders and enlisted the grunts. They followed me loyally when I told them the truth about the regional governments. The first one hundred, I trained so that they could go out and reproduce their numbers. Soon, I had an army of one thousand at my beck and call. We would change the world, crush the corrupt regional governments, and bring about a new world where the assassins would protect the people again, just as it was always meant to be. For that, I selected five to train as the new generation of assassins. Perhaps you've met them. My Shadow Squad. I always sent them against you to test them and see if they were fit for the job. Obviously, two were not in their first match up against you. A regrettable, but necessary sacrifice. The other three grow more powerful, and will soon lead the next generation of assassins."

I stepped forward to the other side of the massive table. "So how did you keep an operation so large under wraps for so long?"

"Ah, the question of the hour. It's very simple really. Whenever you present anyone a raging tauros in front of them, they immediately forget the dragon behind them. So that's what I did. The money and resources I had collected for months went into creating distraction that would keep people's eyes off of my growing armies. Team Rocket, a formidable crime ring capable of standing on its own, accepted my help. And so, I resurrected them in the Johto Region on the condition that they caused chaos. They did, thus acting as the raging tauros that kept people's eyes off of the growing dragon standing right behind them and it worked perfectly.

"I did the same in the Hoenn and Sinnoh Regions. In Hoenn, Team Magma and Team Aqua already existed. All I did was increase the conflict between the two of them. My agents infiltrated both teams, attacking the other, and slowly fading into the shadows. I also gave money and resources to both sides without the other side noticing. As planned, the two teams fought each other constantly, all the way to the point of resurrecting two ancient pokemon that could have nearly destroyed the world. Again, a rampaging tauros to distract from the growing dragon.

"Sinnoh was a special case, considering that's when I first saw you after so many years. Team Galactic was only a budding crime ring, capable of great chaos if goaded in the right direction. So I facilitated their rise to power, eliminating all threats. The sudden rise to power distracted the world yet again. But when you and your friend interfered, I found myself hesitant at ordering yours and Orion's execution. I wanted to watch, to see what you would do. You and Orion defeated Team Galactic in a most impressive display of strength. I felt much pride at having been your tutor. You were always my favorite student. Seeing you again were quite a joy, and it made me realize something. Of all the former assassins who could see my point of view, it would be you most likely. You saw Team Galactic's corrupting movements in the Sinnoh Region and moved swiftly to destroy them. Even though you haven't defeated them fully, I realized that you could help me in my own goals. Why else would I keep you alive all this time?"

I laughed once. "Ha! You? Keep me alive?"

"You laugh now, but in actuality, I have been keeping you alive. In Sinnoh, I made sure your face wasn't seen by the authorities. In the Driftveil City hospital, I made sure the records of you were deleted from their databases. Even within my own ranks, all records of you since yesterday morning have been deleted. I wanted to keep you alive so that I could see what you would do, if anything. Of course, Shadow Squad went after you on my orders, but only so that you could test them. You are far too powerful for them after all."

"So how does all of this link to Unova?"

"Ah yes. Let me explain." Dracous pushed some buttons on his side of the table and the black top suddenly lit up. Blaziken jumped off and landed beside me. Even Sapphira walked forward to study it. The round table portrayed the entire world, which each of the regions highlighted in a different color. "You see Malik, corruption fills this entire world. So long as the rich get what they want and the poor remain under their heels, corruption will exist. At first, I did think of trying an all out invasion of the world, but with my insufficient numbers and lack of distractions to hide an even larger operation, I settled for something better. Fear. Fear is something every human being and every pokemon on this planet has in common. So I decided to prey on those fears. Through terrorist attacks, I attacked Unova, Sinnoh, and Hoenn." Each of the regions changed colors to red. "Meanwhile, fear of impending attack would keep Kanto and Johto at bay until the right time. However, Unova was the main focus. So I ordered the construction of this fortress as a permanent base of operations, and set about the creation of an armada that would remain submerged just off the coasts, waiting for the attack. With the help of John Berkley, my agent in the International Police, I had control of the defenses of the world. Thanks to Professor Zenger, I had devices that could detect and cast illusions. All pieces were in place. And thus, I began my attacks."

"On assassins throughout the world." Now I snarled in anger. "Why?"

"Because the assassins were also corrupt. They had let themselves be defeated by the very thing the order had been created to protect against. If I let them live, they would have resisted me and my fight for freedom from corruption. They were just as corrupt. So I killed them. Shadow Squad carried out a majority of the killings while my soldiers killed them on an individual level. But you…" He pointed at me with a gleam in his eye. "…I kept alive. Out of one hundred and thirty-five assassins, I let you live. Even when my advisors urged me to reconsider, to order your assassination, I ordered you be kept alive and that all records of you be destroyed. I knew that if there was anyone who would most likely join me, it would be you.

"I learned something from those years of creating distractions though. Team Galactic taught me it. To control the entire world, you needed power; power only invested in those known as legendary." Dracous smirked at the shock written in my eyes. "Yes, I started looking for a legendary pokemon that would suit my needs. I captured some, studied them, and let them loose. Other I studied from a distance, deciphering ancient scrolls and texts, until I found one that perfectly suited my needs. And it's right here in the Unova Region. With the world distracted by my full-grown dragon rampaging in front of them, they will live oblivious to the legendary pokemon behind them."

"But you cannot control the legendary pokemon. You're a fool if you think you can. They're too wild."

"Legendary pokemon are nothing but creatures possessing extraordinary powers that rampage throughout the world. Of course I can't control them. When did I say I ever would? With the legendary pokemon I have selected, I will let it rampage throughout the world, and then I will start a new world from the ashes."

"You talk of rampaging legendary pokemon. Don't you realize that that will destroy civilization?" I challenged. "I thought you wanted to destroy the regional governments, the source of the corruption."

"Yes, the regional governments are the main target, but I cannot accomplish my goals so long as people support the governments. Look out there. I've replaced the entire government council of Unova with my own agents, but still the people support it. I have proven these past six months that I can control the people and the regional governments cannot stop me, but still the people support them. These civilizations today were built for the regional governments; they thrive on the regional governments. Simply destroying the government won't be enough. I also have to destroy those who support it. It's proper cleansing of the world."

"It's genocide!"

"No it isn't Malik! It's what is necessary. The world grows stronger through destruction. It will be like the strong tree in the forest falling, thus giving rise to an empire of plants that before could not survive in the shade. Look at how my 'death' created the savior of civilization."

"You dare call yourself the savior of civilization and yet you call for its destruction. How could you?"

"Simple minds like yours wouldn't understand. I will destroy civilization and rebuild it. My soldiers and supporters are the chosen ones, the people who will restart civilization. It will be a world where the order of assassins will protect the people from crime and corruption. Yes, it will be the falling of a great tree in a forest, giving rise to a new empire of plants that will thrive in ways it could never before. And if necessary at that point, then destruction will take place again. Civilization will be destroyed and reborn again, destroyed again, and reborn again, each time growing stronger and more perfect. Soon, someday, through its constant destruction and creation, civilization will become perfect. It will become what it was always meant to be. On that day, no one will have to fear anything. On that day, the order of assassins will truly no longer need to exist, because the world will be perfect. If only you could understand that. I will be the savior of civilization."

"How does lucario fit into this?"

"Now, now. I couldn't tell you that or it will spoil the surprise. But let me tell you, your lucario will play a vital role in the destruction of the world. Without him, none of this will be possible. But thanks to him, the whole world will be destroyed and rebuilt exactly as it is meant to be. In the new world, I will make sure that lucario is honored above all other pokemon for what he does this day. I might even built statues of your lucario throughout the world so that people will be reminded of how great your lucario was."

I stepped back. The words in my mind came out slowly while I tried to reason what Dracous had just told me. "You're right. You're absolutely right." Dracous smirked and Sapphira gasped at me. "You were right as well Sapphira. Gladius is dead. He died ten years ago, nobly in the line of duty protecting people. You are nothing but the resurrection of his darker side. You slander the memory of Gladius by just standing there. And I will make sure that you die and return to the grave from whence you came."

Dracous snarled like a creature. "You are a fool if you think you can stop me. There's nothing you or anyone can do at this point."

"Oh, but there is." I jumped onto the lit table and brandished three hidden blades.

At the same time, Dracous shouted, "Too slow Malik. Shadow Squad!"

As I pulled back to throw the knives, the roof above cracked and completely shattered as three large masses fell down. I somersaulted backward to avoid the falling debris. Where I once stood, three haxoruses landed, their claws penetrating the top of the table and shattering the glass. Sparks flew from the electrical systems as the screen shut off from the impact. I still wielded the knives, so I found Dracous through the smoke with Aura and threw in his direction. However, he saw them coming and parried them with a kunai stashed under his sleeve. "Again, too slow Malik. The student never overcomes the master. I know all of your tricks and can move to deflect them."

"I'm going to stop you Dracous!"

"As much as I'd love to stay and chat, I have a world to destroy and rebuild. So I bid you adieu Malik. Come with me Sapphira."

The smoke had cleared enough for me to see exactly what happened next. Shadow Squad stood atop the table awaiting orders from Dracous, who held out his hand towards Sapphira. Sapphira hesitantly took one step backwards away from him. "No. I…I can't go with you."

Dracous looked again at Sapphira. "Please my dear. Come with me. Now!"

Sapphira gazed at me with those twin sapphire eyes. "Do you forgive me Malik?"

I nodded. "Of course I forgive you Sapphira."

Dracous snarled. "Sapphira! Come here now!" He lunged at her and grabbed at the chain around her neck. Sapphira squeaked a jerked away, causing the chain to snap, leaving Dracous with nothing but the pendant. He growled and threw the pendant across the table at me. I slowly picked it up off the floor where it lay.

Dracous looked stunned and glanced my way. "You've stolen my daughter from me you #!*% ."

"You chased her away with all that talk of genocide. I didn't do anything."

Sapphira faced her father – no, Dracous – with a look of complete defiance written plainly on her features. "No fath…no Dracous. I'm not going with you. I'm staying with Malik."

Dracous stood still with shock in his eyes and no words to speak. One of the shadow warriors spoke, "High commander, what are your orders?"

In a voice as cold and dark as a winter night, Dracous said, "Eliminate them."

"And what of your daughter?"

"Eliminate her too. She is not among the chosen."

"Yes high commander." Dracous gave one last seething look at me and Sapphira before turning and leaving. The shadow warriors faced us. "You're done for assassin. No running now. We'll finish you right here, right now."

10:39:57

10:39:58

10:39:59

10:40:00

Sapphira rushed over to Malik's side while blaziken and garchomp jumped to counter the enemy haxoruses. The haxoruses countered with dragon claws and iron heads. Malik shouted orders, "Blaziken, use flare blitz! Garchomp, counter their attacks with dragon rush!" The five pokemon attacked each other ferociously until the table beneath the haxoruses completely collapsed in a pile of rubble. To Sapphira's dismay, blaziken and garchomp weren't able to break the defenses of the haxoruses. With a great heave, she hurled her pokeball and released eelektross into the battle. Even though electric type moves wouldn't have much effect on those haxoruses, eelektross could at least help to even things out.

Malik nodded thanks to her and sent zoroark into battle to combat one of the haxoruses with a night daze. The resulting wave of ark energy swept the floor of the lightest pieces of rubble and sent clouds of dust into the air. Sapphira covered her mouth in an attempt to not breathe in the dust. Eelektross took to the battle with a crunch aimed at one of the dragons. The haxorus turned to counter with a swift raking of dragon claws. Eelektross failed to land a hit as the dragon claws struck too soon. After eelektross flew across the room, blaziken jumped in with a hi-jump kick that sent the enemy haxorus and trainer flying across the room.

The other two enemy assassins responded to the momentary defeat of their ally by throwing more pokeballs, summoning new pokemon onto the field of battle. Suddenly, it felt like the room had grown too small for the massive battle raging. Malik and Sapphira backed up as far as they could and commanded their pokemon as best they could with their backs to the wall. Escape would prove to be difficult with those three assassins before them.

Suddenly, with the sound of a great crash, broken glass began to rain over them. Sapphira screeched and Malik rushed over to cover her head with his body to shield from the falling shards of glass. Within a couple of seconds, the rain of glass ceased and Malik looked up to where a tinted window used to exist about a floor above the command center. Jumping through the gap in the wall, a latios, a mienshao, and a typhlosion joined battle with Malik's pokemon against the haxoruses. Following them through the window, a samurott, a volcarona, and another zoroark also joined their allies in battle. Malik smiled and Sapphira joined him. She recognized Yusuf's pokemon, who charged into the midst of the enemy pokemon and fought tenaciously left and right. But the others who also fought eluded her memory. A person walked up to the gap in the wall and wave down at them. "Hey Malik. Hey Sapphira."

The two persons both waved their hands back at Yusuf standing there. Malik yelled, "I assume you rescued Orion?"

Yusuf pointed behind him where Malik and Sapphira couldn't see. "Yeah, I have him here."

"Is he okay?"

Yusuf took a quick glance behind him before replying, "He's…he's different. Now, come on! We need to get out of here."

Malik nodded and started to urge Sapphira towards the only other entrance to the room that blaziken had opened before. The battle had now reached a fever pitch, with the shadow warrior summoning every last one of their pokemon into battle. However, not even they could fight off the vast number of pokemon. Soon, enemy pokemon were subdued by their opponents and withdrawn by their masters. Seeing the battle turning against them, the shadow warriors jumped atop their hydreigons and withdrew the last of their pokemon prior to releasing smoke grenades to cover their hasty retreat.

Sapphira sighed deeply at seeing the end. Malik joined the tired pokemon at the center of the room and led them out through the open doorway. Sapphira hobbled behind them on her booted foot. Outside, Yusuf pushing a hospital gurney met them. Malik and Sapphira openly gasped at the condition of the person lying on his chest on the gurney. "Orion! What the #!*% did they do to you?" Malik asked.

Orion did look awful. His entire body was covered in bandages, but even then, it looked atrocious. The uncovered parts of his face still revealed scars so horrendous, Sapphira thought she would throw up. Both of his were blackish blue, and one was swollen so much, it wouldn't open. Orion cracked a very slight smile which turned into a wince. "They were very…insistent."

"Come on." said Yusuf. "We've got to get out of here."

Suddenly, up and down the hallway, an alarm started sounding and echoing throughout the fortress. Malik looked around tensely. "What's that?" he asked. He looked over at Sapphira. "Sapphira, what is it?"

Sapphira also gazed about before recognizing the sound and gulped. "It's the self-destruct alarm. They're going to blow up the fortress."

"How long do we have?"

"I don't know. It's not saying. But I don't think we have long. Maybe five minutes."

Malik swore under his breath. "Alright, we need a way out of here."

"Latios can't carry all of us out of here." Yusuf added.

"Yeah. We're just going to have to take a helicopter if they left one here for us."

"That's probably not likely if they meant us to die here."

"It doesn't matter. At the very least, we can get to the outside of the fortress. Let's move." With Malik leading the way down the hallway to the nearest elevator, the party of people and pokemon rushed through the fortress. Thankfully, the first elevator they found was large enough to hold the gurney and three people. Pokemon were withdrawn hastily prior to the elevator dropping down through the shaft to the ground floor. Once out, they rushed down more corridors and hallways. Malik passed by a window, glanced through, and came to an abrupt halt. "There! There's a helicopter we can take!"

Yusuf took a good look through the window. "That thing doesn't look nearly big enough for all of us."

"Would you rather look for a jetliner?" Malik asked sarcastically. "It's a helicopter and we're taking it."

Having sealed the deal, Malik rushed to the door to the hangar bay and opened it for the rest of the party. Yusuf and Orion entered the hangar bay and took off towards the helicopter. Sapphira hobbled through. Truth be told, the helicopter really didn't look big enough for them all. However, Malik was insistent that they take the first opportunity they had. Sapphira stopped dead. "The hangar bay doors are still closed."

Malik turned to face her. "We can break through."

Sapphira shook her head. "Not fast enough." She gazed around to find the control panels for the hangar bay. At last, her eyes found them. A large room with windows raised above the hangar bay to observe all traffic in the room most likely held the control panels for the door. "I'll go open the door. You take care of Orion." She started hobbling her way to the room, taking the set of stairs available while Malik rushed on to help secure Orion in the helicopter.

Sapphira entered the room and began scanning the panels for the door controls. Concern turned to panic as nothing stood out to her. Of course, the operators trained to work these stations wouldn't need signs, so nothing was marked. With desperation, she started pulling levers and flipping switches. In the space of a few seconds, the lights in the hangar bay had turned on and off, and ventilation rotors in the air ducts had begun turning. At last, she found the right lever and pulled it. Four spinning yellow lights lit up on the far side of the hangar bay as the two massive metal doors slid open, revealing the night sky. Only fifteen seconds transpired to open the doors. Once open, she released her hold on the lever and rushed out. Outside the room, she stopped dead. Down below, both Yusuf and Malik stopped working to look as well. The doors began closing again, much faster than they had opened, much faster than someone to fly out after pulling the lever. Sapphira glanced over at the lever she had pulled. It had returned to its previous position.

Her eyes swiveled to see Yusuf with a look of shock on his face. He dropped everything he was doing and started sprinting to her. She gulped and unclipped eelektross's pokeball, throwing it at Yusuf. Yusuf stopped halfway up the stairs to catch it, by which time; Sapphira had returned to the control room and locked the door. Inside, she began pulling the lever down. Yusuf reached the locked door and started banging it with his fists. "Sapphira! Open the door!"

Out the room's windows, Sapphira caught sight of Malik joining Yusuf at the door and also knocking. "Sapphira, what's wrong?"

"It's a dead man's switch! One of us has to stay behind and hold it down so that the rest can escape!"

"Sapphira!" Yusuf started yelling again. "Unlock the door! We can work around this!"

"There's no time! I don't know when this base is going to blow, but you all need to get out of here now! Please!"

All at once, she collapsed and grasped her head with both hands, letting go of the switch. What was this feeling? It was like she had two different minds. _Sapphira? _A familiar voice called out in the depths of her mind. Malik?

_Sapphira, it's me, Malik. Think your answers to reply._

_What…what are you doing?_

_This is telepathy. The same I use with lucario. _

_You're in my head?_

_Yes. _Was the reply

_And I'm in yours?_

_Yes. _Again. _Is it true that there's no other way?_

This level of closeness with Malik was more overwhelming than anything Sapphira had ever experienced before in her life. Every emotion, even those that Malik kept hidden, were revealed for her to study. She found that he was feeling an equal amount of remorse and apprehension. _Yes. No one can hold down the switch and run back in time to fly before the door closes again._

_It doesn't have to be you. Someone else can stay behind to hold down the switch._

_No. You, Yusuf, and Orion need to live to stop my dad. It has to be me._

Silence, except for the loud swirl of emotions and memories in Malik's mind. Amazing. Sapphira could study them forever. He had so many memories from the days when it was just him and lucario living in a cave in Sinnoh, barely clothed and without daily food. It hurt Sapphira to the core to see that Malik had experienced so many challenges at such a young age. _Malik?_

_Yes? _He replied.

_Make Yusuf go. He won't leave unless you make him. Please Malik, make him go._

_I will. Are you sure of this?_

Sapphira took a deep breath and stood up. _Yes. I'm sure. Just go._

Malik remained silent for a while. Finally, he replied, _Okay._

I grabbed a hold of Yusuf's shoulders. "Come on. We need to go. There's no other way."

He resisted and shook me off. "No! We're not leaving her behind." Yusuf grabbed a pokeball off his belt to smash the door open with.

I grabbed his arm and wrapped another arm around his chest. "No! We need to get out of here! She's made her choice! You're not respecting her wish if you die here too. Come on!" with every ounce of strength I had, I started pulling him back down the stairs to the helicopter. Through the window, I saw Sapphira pulling the lever down to open the door. The cold night air rushed in yet again as we neared the helicopter. I shoved Yusuf into the right side of the cockpit, made sure that Orion was securely strapped into the back on the medical bed, and stopped to look back at Sapphira. _Is this goodbye then? _I asked. Only lucario and I had experienced this level of connection. It felt almost alien to experience it with another human. Sapphira's mind held so many memories, both good and bad. I could see through her eyes, the memories of her beatings from her foster mom. It gave me pain to watch them as much as they gave her pain to relive them through the memory.

_Yeah. _Such waves of remorse and sadness traveled across the link. They were so much stronger than pokemon emotions, I felt almost overwhelmed. _You need to get out of here._

_Okay. _I loaded up in the right side of the cockpit and strapped myself in. With a few switches flipped, the giant rotor on top and the steering rotor in the rear began spinning at maddeningly high speeds. Soon, the tiny craft was lifting up and hovering over the steel floor. With an ease of the joystick, the helicopter leaned forward slightly and traveled through the open door.

_Malik?_ Sapphira asked.

_Yes?_

_I…I couldn't sift quickly enough through your memories to find those about my parents. My real parents. Can you show those to me please before…before it's too late?_

In the real world, I could feel a tear rolling out of my eye. _Yes. Study them all. _I began meditating on the memories I had of Gladius when he found me, a starved and naked boy living in a cave with a lucario. He gave me his cloak for warmth that day and brought me back to the town where the order of assassins lived. There, he offered to train both I and my friend lucario. So we trained long and hard. I focused on the details of Sapphira's mother, Cameron. I revealed the memory of when I snuck up on their late night training when they competed. A little time after that, she and Gladius were married in a big party among the assassins. I was the best man at that wedding. Sapphira responded with waves of happiness when she saw my memories of their first kiss at the wedding and how they danced in a huge ballroom afterwards. I portrayed the memories when Cameron would invite me over to their place where she would serve great food and tell wonderful stories. When the time came, I stopped, knowing the next memories in line were those of Gladius' death and how Cameron was so heart-broken, she ran off, never to be seen again.

Sapphira cried both mentally and physically. _Thank you. I never knew who my parents were._

_You're welcome._

Waves of shock and panic from Sapphira hit me hard. I looked through her physical eyes to see streams of sparks flying from the control panels and all around the hangar bay. _Malik! _She yelled mentally at me. _I'm really sorry. I'm so very, very sorry about lucario._

_I forgive you Sapphira. I really forgive you._

More explosions inside the fortress triggered fresh waves of panic in Sapphira's mind. _Malik. I want you to know something._

_Anything._

_I…these last several hours…I feel as though you and I…that we. Malik, I…I don't know what to say._

_Don't say anything. _I knew exactly what Sapphira had wanted to say and she knew that I knew. For those next seconds that felt like minutes, we simply dwelled in the sanctities of each other's minds. We left them merge, push and pull against each other, let them flow around each other. My thoughts became her thoughts and her thoughts became my thoughts. It was as close to a kiss as we could get.

_Malik. _She broke the silence. _I love you._

Steering in the cockpit, I tried to fight back the tears, but they still came. The sounds of explosions behind us caused Yusuf to turn his head and look back. I too, looked back. Massive explosions tore up the mountain beneath the massive fortress. Explosions in the bases of every tower started a chain reaction that crawled up the fortress. Detonation after detonation shattered the steel and concrete of the fortress all the way to the tops of every tower. Finally, one massive explosion in the depths of the mountain ripped everything apart, sending burning debris flying everywhere and shooting a massive fireball hundreds of feet into the sky. Sapphira's consciousness slipped away and disappeared completely. I staggered mentally, as though on a dancing floor and my partner had simply disappeared. My hand slipped and the helicopter began dropping in altitude until I finally regained control. Yusuf leaned back into his seat, spent but a second staring into the distant horizon, and buried his head in his hands. I could make out the sounds of his sobs over the gusting wind. With a hand, I reached over and placed it comfortingly on his shoulder, and joined him in his sorrows for the loss of Sapphira.

10:59:57

10:59:58

10:59:59

11:00:00


	20. Chapter 20

The following takes place between 11 P.M. and 12 A.M.

Night gripped Unova in an all-enveloping embrace. The black sky, unbroken except by the thousands of twinkling stars, stretched from horizon to horizon. Amidst the twinkling stars watching over the land of Unova, a green and red light moved across the sky. A light droning sound followed the lights. The two lights marked the position of the cargo helicopter flying through the sky towards north eastern Unova.

Aboard the cargo helicopter, Dracous sat on one of the benches opposite lucario. Bound to the metal interior of the helicopter by bands of steel, lucario glowered across the small space at his captor. Dracous smirked. "The mighty Lucario, imprisoned on a helicopter bound for the destiny of the world." Lucario continued to glare at Dracous. "Do you even know who I am Lucario?" Still glaring. "Well, of course" Still glaring. "Well, of course you wouldn't recognize me. It's been ten years after all."

"You're Gladius." Lucario communicated mentally, ensuring that Dracous received every drop of hatred in the mental reply.

Dracous contained his surprise at how lucario figured it out. "Yes, I am. But how did you know?"

"Every person, despite the many years that have corrupted them, has a unique Aura. I knew who you were as soon as you let me out of that infernal machine."

Dracous' eyes widened and a grin spread across his face. "Ah yes. You've never been captured in a pokeball before, have you? I'm sure it wasn't all that pleasant, going so long in your freedom and only now realizing what it's like to be just like a common pokemon."

Lucario returned to his silence, ever glaring at his captor. Dracous leaned back against the metal walls of the helicopter with a self-satisfied look on his face. "At last, the whole world will change." Dracous stared into lucario's glare with a soft expression. "You know, I never wanted anyone to get hurt. I spent countless years trying to figure out how to change the world without all this bloodshed. Unfortunately, none of my calculations ever resulted in a result that said that sacrifices weren't needed. Believe me; I mourn every death that ever took place from day one, including the deaths of every single assassin. I knew each one, and many of them were my closest friends. But they were fools. They let themselves be deceived by the lies of corruption. They let themselves think that the order of assassins would be leaving the world in a better way. But they were wrong. Corruption still exists. They would have fought me to protect its existence because they believed that it was the answer to their prophecy. If only they knew the truth." Dracous pounded his fist against the metal and a look of remorse covered his face. "Why couldn't they see the truth like I have?" He continued to murmur like this, more to himself than to lucario, who continued to glare.

After a while, Dracous straightened up in his seat. "Well, it can't be helped now. More than a thousand innocent lives spent, and now the world will change for the better. Like the legendary moltres, the world will rise again from the ashes of its destruction."

A voice on the intercom echoed in the metal interior of the helicopter. "High commander! We're nearing the rendezvous point!"

Dracous shouted back, "Good! Land as soon as you can! We'll leave as soon as wheels are down!"

"Will you want an armed escort to The Vault sir?"

"Negative soldier! I'm well protected as is! As soon as you drop us off, immediately leave and rendezvous with the others in the bunkers!"

"Roger that sir! Beginning descent pattern!"

Dracous and lucario could feel the change in altitude as the helicopter slowly dropped. Lucario continued to glare at his captor without a care for the changing environment. Meanwhile, Dracous pulled what appeared to be an ancient scroll laminated in plastic and started to read the ancient text on it. "So many years. So much planning. Finally, it all comes down to this." He put the scroll off to the side. "Man may have landed on the moon, but I will change the world like no one has ever seen. Generations from now will live in a perfect world without corruption or crime. Out descendants will live without fear when they travel home from work or around the globe. And it will all be due to the actions of us two."

"What makes you think that I'll do anything for you willingly?" asked lucario. "My loyalty remains with Malik."

"True. But technology has evolved just as much as you pokemon. It's not a question of whether or not you'll obey me willingly. It's whether or not you'll be able to anything but obey me." Dracous snapped his fingers and a burly guard on the helicopter walked up to lucario with what looked like a metal crown. The metal crown fitted snuggly on lucario's head despite his struggles. Once it sat atop his brow and was strapped in, the guard pushed a button on the side. Lucario gasped and his ears started to ring. Dracous commanded, "Stop struggling." The sounds of the commands registered in lucario's mind and he stopped. What the, lucario thought. Why did I stop? Lucario tried to move his body back into its previous struggles but couldn't. He thought as hard as he could, even shouting, "Move body, move!" mentally for all to hear, but nothing he could do would make his body struggle against the metal bands around him.

He looked desperately at Dracous, who simply smiled. With another snap of his fingers, Dracous ordered the guard to unlock the metal bands around lucario. Once free, lucario started trying to move his body into action and summon an aura sphere to kill Dracous with, but nothing would work. His body was no longer his to command. Dracous smiled openly again. "Feels awful, doesn't it, losing control like that? Kind of like the feeling of the oppressed people of the world. They have no control and fall victim to corrupt bureaucrats. They live with their slavery and act as though the world is a better place than it really is. But here's the truth: whether the slave tries to pretend that they aren't a slave it doesn't change the fact that the chains of corruption are still fastened around their wrists and ankles. Now, kill the guard."

The guard blanched and started to back away while shouting vain protests. Lucario stood up in the helicopter while he tried to fight the bidding of Dracous. Unbidden, he limbs shot out to score direct hits on the man. The unfortunate guard dropped to the ground while Dracous looked on with a grim look of satisfaction in his eyes. Then lucario dropped down and wrapped his arms around the man's neck. The spike on his right paw dug into the man's chin, bringing forth a thin stream of crimson blood. Lucario shouted mentally as much as he could, "No! Don't do this! Don't kill him!" To lucario, it was like watching a horror film in which he was the main character. With a swift and strong motion, lucario jerked the man's neck. A quick snap followed by cracks silenced the guard's protests and signaled his death.

Having finished the deed, lucario stood up. His eyes studied the blood on his right paw, staining his fur and discoloring the spike. Dracous laughed and started clapping as if he had just seen a great play. "Wonderful job lucario. You are now under my complete control."

On the intercom, the pilot shouted, "Wheels down! Touching down in five, four, three, two, one." A thud and a shudder through the entire craft told everyone within that the helicopter had landed. Dracous stood up. "Come with me lucario. Pilot, leave us as soon as we're away."

"Yes sir!" A door on the side opened and served as a set of stairs leading down to the ground. The wind produced by the twin rotors of the cargo helicopter created a little windstorm. It flurried Dracous' black robes and whipped dust into lucario's eyes. Grass and trees shook violently around them at the whims of the wind. Once away, the speed of the rotors started to pick up again and the helicopter lifted up. Soon, it was nothing but glowing lights on the horizon. Dracous walked off with lucario following behind. Trees passed by in droves as they walked. They slowly approached a mountain side. With skills born and raised in the order of assassins, both of them managed to jump to greater heights where cliffs denied access to normal people. A few jumps and the two found themselves in front of the entrance to a massive cavern.

Dracous activated a flashlight and revealed a massive wall blocking the entrance to the cavern within. The wall was covered in ancient runes from days long gone. "It's your turn lucario. This is why I brought you here."

"Why?"

"Because you're the only one who can open The Vault. Now do it."

"I don't know how."

"Try touching the wall."

Despite his continuous mental protests, lucario walked forward and touched the cold wall with his right paw. Suddenly, a feeling unlike any he had ever felt before filled his entire body. It felt as though tens of thousands of tiny fish hooks started pulling from within him to the wall. But they didn't pull his body. Rather, lucario felt the tiny hooks pull on his Aura. He tried to pull away, but his paw felt attached to the wall. A soft blue grow resonated from his chest and started flowing like a river up his torso and into his right arm. It weaved around and around his arm down to his paw where it touched the wall. Magically, blue light started to shine from each of the letters, even those that had faded from countless centuries. The light illuminated the entire cavern, forcing Dracous to turn off his flashlight and shield his eyes. Before lucario's eyes, the wall started to crumble away into dust. The dust fell at his feet, only to be blown away. As the wall slowly collapsed around him, lucario felt the breath of an icy wind from within The Vault. He gulped. Pandora's Box was open.

11:14:57

11:14:58

11:14:59

11:15:00

In the tiny helicopter, the clouds passed by slower than they had when riding on latios. Looking upwards through the glass over the top of the cockpit, I studied the stars twinkling above. I realized that it was the first time I had seen that day. The smoke clouds over Oppelucid City had hidden them from view. Now I could view them clearly while flying several thousand feet over the surface of the land. My eyes traced the invisible lines that marked out the constellations. But then I saw them: two distant blue stars next to each other. They didn't connect with any constellations that I knew of. Instead, they only reminded me of Sapphira's eyes. I broke eye contact with the starry sky and looked over at Yusuf. He had been silent for the past ten or so minutes, staring off in the distance with a blank expression on his face. Whenever I felt like I should say something to him, nothing I could think of sounded appropriate. And thus, the helicopter ride back to Oppelucid City remained silent.

At least, it was silent until that very moment when Orion in the back spoke up. "So, how did they get Trisha?"

Yusuf kept staring out at the night sky with that same emotionless expression, oblivious to everything else that was happening. It almost convinced me that he could be sleeping with his eyes open. I looked back at Orion in the back. "What are you talking about?"

"Those terrorists. They got Trisha."

Confusion filled my mind at that statement. What was Orion talking about? "I don't know what you're talking about. Trisha's in Oppelucid City."

Orion's expression changed from gloom to bright. "Are you telling the truth? She's really alive?"

"Yeah. Why did you think she wasn't?"

"Because I saw her die. They tortured her right in front of me."

"She's still alive Orion. She's probably out of the hospital by now from some injuries she sustained, but she's fine."

Orion breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Thank goodness. I'm glad she's okay. But then, who was that Trisha look-alike from before?"

"I don't know Orion, but we'll find out when we reach the city."

"Which is right there." Yusuf spoke up for the first time during the flight. I followed his steady gaze to where columns of black smoke rose from a forest of skyscrapers. Few dim lights still shined in the night. The most light I could see from our present height originated from the multiple fires in the streets and in the towers. I began descending the helicopter on approach to the massive city. To my surprise, in the past hour, two skyscrapers in the center of the forest had collapsed into each other, creating a giant pile of rubble that scattered over dozens of city blocks. Old City still stood, but not a single battle seemed to be taking place around the perimeter. Not a single trainer on a flying pokemon patrolled the skies above the city.

"It's far too quiet for my taste. I wonder if…I wonder if the defenders have fallen to the mercenaries and this is a trap."

"We can always fight back if it is a trap." Orion said.

"Maybe. Or this could be the trap we're not prepared for. I'm taking us down into the city. Be ready for anything."

Our ears popped at the drop in elevation. Suburbs of the southern edges of Oppelucid City flew by beneath us. We all held our respective breaths as I flew the helicopter through a column of black smoke rising from house fires beneath us. Clearing a wall of high buildings by several yards, we entered into Old City airspace. Navigating the helicopter carefully, I brought us down to the first clear street square. With a teeth-rattling thump, the chopper struck the surface of the pavement. With a few flipped switches, I slowed the main and steering rotors to a complete stop. Yusuf slowly stepped out and I followed. Almost as soon as my right foot touched the ground, massive floodlights filled my vision with blinding illumination. I shielded my eyes and readied blaziken's pokeball for deployment into battle before the familiar voice of Steven shouted, "Hold! They're friends! Hold your fire! And shut down these ridiculous lights before you blind the poor buggers!"

Soon, the massive lights were shut off and replaced with the softer illumination of flashlights. Steven approached me and gave me a hug. "Welcome back Malik. We were worried about you for a moment there."

"You, worried? We were the ones worrying that something had happened to the city; that maybe you had fallen to the mercenaries."

Steven grinned from ear to ear. "Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. The mercenaries have stopped attacking us."

"Really? When did this happen?"

"About an hour ago. They were in the midst of attacking when suddenly, they fell back. Good thing too. We were weakened and close to falling. But they fell back and haven't attacked us since. It's given us precious time to repair the defenses and heal our defenders."

I thought this over a bit. It confused me as much as it seemed to confuse Steven. "I wonder why-."

My voiced thought was rudely interrupted at that point by a shriek, followed closely by, "Orion! You're alive!" I saw nothing but a blur shoot past me and rush over to the helicopter where medics were unloading Orion on his gurney from the compartment. I turned around to see Trisha standing next to Orion absolutely dumbfounded, with her mouth hiding a gasp and her fingers trying to stop a few tears in her eyes. Orion didn't exactly look pretty covered in bandages and scarring wounds. Trisha reached down to touch Orion's shoulder, who winced from the obvious pain the touch created. "Trisha," I shouted. "I wouldn't touch him anytime soon. He's pretty banged up."

Trisha nodded and contented herself with simply walking alongside her boyfriend back to the pokemon center. Then she stopped and turned around. "Hey Malik. Where's Sapphira? I thought she was coming back as well."

Silence. Everyone stopped, even the work crews and the medics. I didn't know how to respond to the question and looked at Yusuf, who stood off to the side. He looked around at everyone who stared at him, waiting for an answer. In silence, he looked down at his feet, turned, and walked away. I and everyone else stared after him as he walked away. "Malik." Steven whispered in my ear. "What happened to Sapphira?"

I bowed my head and closed my eyes, thinking of how best to respond. "She…she died. She sacrificed herself; stayed behind so that we could escape."

More silence. Steven placed a hand on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to look at him. He too had bowed his head. Then he let go and said, "I see. There was nothing you could do?"

I shook my head slowly. "No."

"Okay." He started to walk away before turning again to say, "Whatever you need to do, do it quickly. We need to meet and decide our next move."

I nodded and started walking. With tendrils of Aura trailing me, I "watched" the scene taking place behind me. Steven put a comforting hand on Trisha's shoulder and started to guide her to the pokemon center. The medics followed with Orion. Everyone else who wasn't assigned to working on the helicopter started to filter out of the scene.

Looking ahead with Aura, I found Yusuf sitting on some stone steps with his head held in his hands. Walking carefully so as not to disturb him, I sat down next to him. He lifted his head out of his hands to gaze into the distance. "A girl, as innocent as freshly fallen snow, yet guilty by bonds she cannot break. You will know her by her name, which sparkles like the brightest oceans."

I looked at him. "You just write that?"

He sighed and looked down at the ground between his feet. "It's what the timekeeper told me. He said that I would meet a great and loyal friend on my journeys whose past would return to endanger her. He said it because I wanted proof that what he was saying about why I shouldn't fight the terrorists was true. At first, I didn't believe him. But when I was in Icirrus City, and she gave me lodging during that blizzard, and I heard her name. Sapphira; after sapphire, the gem that sparkles like a bright ocean." The realization of the name struck deep remorse into my heart. "As I learned more about her," Yusuf continued. "I realized that this was the one the timekeeper was telling me about. But I remembered that she was guilty by bonds she couldn't break and that her past was coming to endanger her. So I tried my best to protect her from that. When her foster parents died, I gladly gave her lodging in my cottage by the river. I thought I could protect her. But I couldn't." Yusuf buried his head into his hands again, and I thought I could see tears developing in his eyes.

In my mind, I thought on what Yusuf had said. Obviously, the timekeeper knew about Sapphira's past and that her biological father was the orchestrator of the great crisis that would touch the world. She would be guilty by bonds she couldn't break and endangered by her dark past. "She was really a good person." I said, not really knowing what else to say.

Yusuf tried to silence a sob rising in his throat. "She didn't have to die. It should have been me holding down that switch so that you could all get out. I should have done more to save her."

Now I really didn't know what to say. What did people say at these moments? Did they try to assure their friend that they couldn't have done anything more, or did they try to encourage them. Then I remembered something and reached into one of my pockets. From within it, I pulled out Sapphira's necklace. I handed it to Yusuf. "Take it. She would have wanted you to have that as a memento."

Yusuf's hands slowly enclosed over the block of wood and metal chain as though it was fragile glass. "Thank you." He tried to study it in the dark with no success. "You know, she really liked you."

I looked at him, trying to act as though I didn't know what he was talking about. "What?"

"Sapphira. She…I don't know, but she felt…attached to you I guess. I saw the way she looked at you, and how she seemed to trust you even when we were first walking though this war-torn city. Her eyes brightened every time she saw you. I could see it in the fortress. When she was with you in that room, even with those terrorists bearing down on you, she looked like she would gladly take on the world, if only to stand by your side."

I stared off into the darkness in silence, wondering. Without a doubt, Sapphira felt attached to me. Frankly, I had felt attached to her. Our pasts were so similar and so intertwined. It amazed me how, if Gladius and Cameron were still alive, they might have adopted me and Sapphira would be my sister. We could have had an entire lifetime to learn about each other.

"So…" Yusuf's voice interrupted my thoughts. "What are you going to do about the terrorist leader?"

"Dracous?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know." I stood up. "But I guess it's time to figure out. Come on. We need to meet with the others and decide what we're going to do now."

Yusuf nodded and stood up alongside me. "Okay."

We walked off side by side through the dark to the pokemon center.

11:27:57

11:27:58

11:27:59

11:28:00

Trisha yawned, realizing for the first time that day how much she missed sleep. With a clenched fist, she rubbed her eyes and the slapped her cheeks lightly to try and stay awake. She looked over at Orion lying on a gurney. The medics had busily replaced old bandages and administered fresh pain medication. Ironic as it sounded, Orion seemed the most rested of the lot. With a pivot of her head, Trisha looked at Steven and Drayden conversing quietly to them in the corner. Neither looked like they had had any sleep in the last two days. She knew for a fact from conversation that Steven hadn't slept soundly for more than an hour since coming to the Unova Region.

Another yawn escaped from her mouth and her hand shot up to hide her mouth from everyone else. Orion smiled. "You look tired."

Trisha shot him a killer glare. "Well, duh. I haven't exactly had a full night's sleep lately."

"Maybe you should try to get one now."

Trisha's mouth started to open in another yawn before she clamped it shut. "I can't. There's too much going on that'll keep me awake. It's hard to sleep at a time like this."

Orion rolled his only good eye slightly before the sound of the sliding doors alerted everyone in the room to someone's entry.

I allowed Yusuf to enter ahead of me through the open door. I follow shortly and find the room completely deserted except for Trisha sitting next to Orion to one side and Steven and Drayden conversing quietly off to the other side. The latter group stopped their conversing to look at us as we enter. "Okay Malik," started Steven, "you have a lot of explaining to do. Do you know what exactly is going on?"

I nodded and gestured with a hand to the couches situated in the center of the room. "Yes. But you had best sit down. This is going to be a long narrative."

Drayden had already taken a seat at one of the couches. Trisha pushed Orion's gurney forward so that he could take part in the long conversation to come. Steven and Yusuf took seats at the same couch, leaving an entire couch big enough for two to me. I sat down and made myself comfortable for the inevitable monologue that I was thinking of.

Steven gestured to me with both hands. "Okay. This is your queue to start talking."

I nodded and took a deep breath. "Okay. My story starts about a thousand years ago with the creation of a group known as the Order of Assassins. The order was composed of strong trainers and their pokemon, all devoted to protecting the world from crime and corruption while keeping ourselves hidden for our own protection. At the height of our power, we had armies of strong trainers and control of every region in the world. Crime was low and criminals were scared of their own shadows. Corruption was nearly extinct. However, the original creators of the order knew that it couldn't last. In fact, they all agreed that the Order would fall in two different scenarios. One was when the world was worse off than before, with crime and corruption rampant. The second was when the world was perfect, without crime, and the people could rule themselves. Over time, those two scenarios became like a prophecy to the Order of Assassins. We all looked forward to the day when the Order of Assassins would die and the world could rule itself. Everyone worked to see the better scenario fulfilled in the prophecy. This continued for many centuries.

"Then, about two hundred years ago, the first of the regional governments started to form. Everyone in the Order of Assassins was excited for the regional governments. It looked like the better answer to our prophecy. The people would elect their leaders through democracy and would have a say in how the world would be run. They would create law enforcement and courts to protect the people from crime. Everyone would work together to see that corruption didn't exist. Obviously, we were most pleased with the regional governments. So when they started to rise to power, we welcomed them and even helped them. Individuals and corrupt politicians who would have used the regional governments for their own advantage, we killed. We wanted the regional governments to succeed, and we willingly fell back to them. Sometimes, they had to force us back. To them, secret organizations that kept to the shadows like ours were suspicious and deemed dangerous. So we fell back. In about a hundred years, we had lost all of our previous power and authority. Entire regions lost their previous protection from the Order of Assassins. But we were okay with this. To us, this was what was meant to be for the better prophecy to be fulfilled. However, there was just one problem."

Steven raised a hand. "Let me guess. Under the regional governments, there was more crime and corruption than there was under the Order of Assassins."

"Correct. Some of the Order saw this as acceptable. They saw the regional governments as young and in need of time o grow and fill the shoes of leadership as it were. After all, they had only been around for about a century at this time whilst the Order of Assassins had been around for about a thousand. However, some didn't see it this way. They believed that the Order was getting mistreated in the arrangement and should have a more influential position in the regions. Some even proposed us going up to the regional governments and demanding that they let us have all of our power and position back so that we could protect the world while the regional governments matured. The very last assassin king ruled against such propositions and decided to let the regional governments continue their current level of growth. In response, hundreds of assassins left the Order so as to fight crime. Unfortunately, if anyone with connections to the Order of Assassins was caught, they were sentenced to life in prison or worse as 'illegal vigilantes'."

"But it's not a crime to fight crime." Yusuf protested.

"I agree." I replied. "It was the part about being connected to the Order of Assassins that made your very existence illegal. The Order and the regional governments almost went to war over such matters. Time passed, and the Order of Assassins was reduced to a small organization providing protection and leadership for the people of a single town in the Sinnoh Region. Some assassins still left to fight crime. One named Terren, left and took down the biggest mob bosses in Veilstone City. However, he was caught and sentenced to life in prison. That was about the same time that I come in.

"I don't know how my story begins. My earliest memories are of me living in a cave I the mountains with lucario. We had barely any food to eat every day and I didn't have any suitable clothes. Then about fifteen years ago, an assassin walking through the mountains found us in the cave that we called home. He gave me his cloak for warmth and brought us both back to the town and gave us proper shelter and food. On that day, both lucario and I decided to be trained as assassins. So the assassin who found us, an assassin of more than thirty years named Gladius, he became our primary teacher. I became fast friends with Gladius, and I was his favorite student. He taught us everything we know and even more. We also became friends with his fiancé, a beautiful assassin named Cameron. The two were married and lived a happy life together. But then, ten years ago, a rampaging pokemon was threatening the surrounding towns. Gladius took several other assassins with him to combat the threat this pokemon offered. When the assassins returned, they brought news of Gladius' death at the hands of the rampaging pokemon. We were all very sad, and Cameron left to fight crime elsewhere. She would later disappear from the world.

"I continued my training until I became one of the top assassins in the Order. At that point, I left to combat my way through the Sinnoh League to test my abilities. After I won in the League with lucario, I returned to find that the Order of Assassins had disbanded. So I decided to stay in Sinnoh and fight crime for a time."

"That's when we met." Orion offered. "He was investigating Team Galactic's rapid rise to power and I was just a novice trainer. I teamed up with him and we fought Team Galactic out of political office. That same year, he helped me win the Sinnoh League. Soon after that, I left for the Unova Region."

"Where you met me." Trisha said sweetly. Orion blushed.

"Anyway," I brought the conversation back to me, "I should now leave the story about me to explain that Gladius, my old master, hadn't died. In fact, I recently met him." Everyone stared in shock at me, but politely didn't ask any question so as to allow me to continue. "He survived his encounter with the rampaging pokemon and decided to stay "dead" to the world. Instead, he fought crime in an effort to defeat corruption, as the Order of Assassins was meant to do all along. But he went…mad. He believed that his failure to stop crime and corruption wasn't because of his acts of taking down crime rings. In his mind, corruption has always been rooted in the regional governments. To him, the two sides of this entire conflict – corruption versus the Order of Assassins – have always been fighting and that corruption tried a new tactic to fight the Order. By using the regional government, the Order was convinced that their prophecy was fulfilled, leaving the door open for corruption to fill the world yet again. As he sees it, the fact that the regional governments have always been fighting against the Order of Assassins and imprisoning or killing assassins like Terren is proof that corruption has been fighting back. So he began his plans.

"Any gifted assassin should be able to see several steps ahead and be able to effectively plan for the future along with preparing for what the enemy can do at that time. Gladius, or Dracous as he now calls himself, had at least nine years to plan for the events that have transpired for the past ten months. In that time, even I can predict everything the police and random trainers can do to counter my efforts. Most of the time, we moved logically against him, which played right into his plans. Seven years ago, he infiltrated the international Police with an agent so as to build defensive firewalls for the regions. Given that he was the architect for such firewalls, he could easily control them and break them without anyone knowing while we believed we were safe. To him, this has all been just a giant chess game stretched over multiple regions and lasting ten years.

"To build his armies, he continued to take down crime rings, kill the leaders and enlist the grunts. Once he had an army of a hundred strong, he sent them out to reproduce their numbers. Soon, a thousand soldiers were at his every beck and call. At this point, he needed distractions to keep the world from seeing him. In the Johto Region, he helped resurrect Team Rocket so that they could distract the world. In Hoenn, he heightened the conflict between Team Magma and Team Aqua. In Sinnoh, he directed Team Galactic to take over the government. All of these events served as effective distractions so that no one could see his growing army. And it worked.

"Now we come to Unova. He has paid special attention to this region because of his plans for it. Like I said, he's gone mad. He is stark raving mad. Now he's not satisfied with simply destroying the regional governments. He wants to take control of a legendary pokemon here in Unova and use it to destroy the world."

The silence that followed was deafening. Steven and Drayden looked confused. Trisha gazed at me with widened eyes. Meanwhile, Yusuf and Orion looked at the floor with thoughtful expressions. Steven broke the awkward silence. "Wha…what? I thought that he wanted to destroy corruption in the regional governments. Why destroy the world?"

"He wants to destroy corruption, period. For that, he believes that he needs to destroy the entire world and simply start over with his soldiers. With him as supreme leader or something and a reborn Order of Assassins under his control, he would start over with civilization and make sure that corruption never exists again. To him, this is the natural order of things that must be taken: a constant cycle of destroying the world and rebuilding it until the world is completely free from crime and corruption. Only in such a situation can the Order of Assassins truly die, having fulfilled its purpose."

Trisha refocused her widened eyes on me. "Do you…do you agree with him?"

I returned the gaze with my narrowed eyes. "Truthfully, I wish he was right. I wish that he could completely destroy corruption and crime so that people like me no longer need to exist. But he's wrong. People are imperfect, which means government will always be imperfect. As long as man is capable of such evil acts as simply hurting others, then crime and corruption will always exist. There's just no way to destroy it. You can limit it, yes. But you can never destroy it."

Trisha gazed down at the floor, probably not expecting such an answer. Yusuf looked up from the floor. "Which legendary pokemon is he planning on using?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. He said it would ruin the surprise."

Orion also looked up. "I might know. While I was in that castle being tortured, he came and asked me for the location of something in the Unova Region."

"What was it?"

"The Vault."

Yusuf stared at Orion in shock. "The Vault? Are you sure?"

Orion nodded as best as he could. "Yeah. He was very specific. He wanted to know where it was and if I had been in it."

Yusuf started muttering quietly to himself with a look of concern on his face. I decided to inquire. "You know of The Vault?"

"Yes, I do. Few in the Unova Region know where it is. An entire city has been built within a few miles of The Vault and even those people don't know its exact location. It's not something taught about. I learned of it from a fairy tale."

"A fairy tale? What about?"

"It spoke of a time when a mighty blizzard seized control of Unova and a hero fought it off. The funny thing I found about the fairy tale was that it spoke of the blizzard as though it was a living creature. Still, the fairy tale gave me the location of The Vault. Further research elsewhere told me what lay inside of it. Kyurem."

We all looked around at each other. "Kyruem?" I asked. "What is Kyurem?"

"Only the most powerful legendary pokemon in the Unova Region. Kyurem is a dual dragon and ice type from ancient times, said to have fallen to earth on an icy meteor. It was said that the pokemon placed an ice age lasting decades over the land of Unova until it suddenly vanished. No historical records exist that say why. Only a fairy tale sung to children that dates back to that time tells the mystery of kyurem. A hero – an Aura Guardian at that – rose up and fought kyurem, sacrificing his life so as to seal kyurem I what became known as The Vault. Like I said, very few know of The Vault's existence."

A thought came to my mind and I jumped up, my eyes alight with realization. "And he said he needed lucario!"

Everyone recoiled, startled at my sudden exclamation. "What is it?" Orion asked amid winces of pain from his own act of recoiling.

"Dracous planned everything so well. He knew that I was coming. That's why he's kept me alive all this time and has kept my identity hidden from the police. He wanted me and lucario alive so that we could come to Unova for this moment. He must have known that he needed lucario, but he didn't know the exact location of The Vault."

"You're not making any sense." Steven interrupted my verbal thoughts. "What are you talking about?"

"Dracous needs lucario to open The Vault. You cannot understand what I'm about to say, but Aura Guardians like the one in that fairy tale are able to seal things like The Vault with their Aura. However, in the story, I'm willing to bet anything that that Aura Guardian used every last bit of his Aura to seal Kyurem, thus sacrificing his life. The only way to break such a seal is with an Aura Guardian who is more powerful than the one who placed the seal. That's why he needs lucario."

Quizzical looks of confusion met my narrative. "You're right," Trisha replied, "we don't understand."

Yusuf raised a hand. "I think I might. You're saying that the Aura Guardian from the fairy tale is like a locksmith who placed a massive lock on The Vault. Only someone more powerful than the original locksmith – lucario – has the key to opening The Vault. Did I understand correctly?"

"You've got the basics of it down."

Trisha sighed. "Well, why didn't you say that in the first place?"

I started to reply before Drayden stood up and took control of the conversation. "Okay, now that we know what Dracous' plan is, how are we going to stop it?"

"I…I don't know," was all I could say truthfully to the question. It was a unique situation, having someone release a powerful legendary pokemon to subject the entire world to an ice age.

"Well," Steven started, "kyurem is a dual dragon and ice type. Why don't we amass together every trainer in the region together who uses type pokemon that have an advantage against kyurem? We can get together all of the steel types, rock types, fighting types, and even some fire types to take down kyurem."

"Yeah." Orion agreed. "I know some people across the region who can…"

"No." I said, stopping all ideas flying through the air. Another deafening silence filled the room as everyone stared at me. I remembered what the timekeeper had told me. This was the moment of choice. Would I result to total war to stop total war and destroy the region, or would I make the necessary choice? "No. We can't risk the destruction of this region by resorting to total war to stop this threat."

"But you've always been in favor of total war." Orion retorted. "This is the only way we can survive."

"No, there is another way." It was a risky plan, but it would certainly work. "Lucario and I can stop kyurem."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Steven asked with a challenging look on his face. "Lucario's MIA and you think you can stop kyurem without any backup? You're crazy."

"But I'm right. We get lucario back and then we can take down kyurem. It's as simple as that."

"And how exactly do we get back lucario, pray tell?"

I smirked with the ideas in my head. "Yusuf, Steven, you two feel up to fighting battles you can't win?"

Both persons in question looked at each other before looking back at me. "What do you have in mind?"

11:56:57

11:56:58

11:56:59

11:57:00

Cold winds and icy blizzards swept by lucario as he looked into the eyes of pure terror. The massive pokemon, kyurem, stared back with a steely gaze. The dragon lifted his snout into the air and sniffed, trying to ascertain this new world. How long had it been? A thousand years or more? Who knew? Lucario backed away from the massive pokemon. Dracous walked forward and shouted over the roar of the winds, "Kyurem!"

The dragon looked away from the skies and stared unwaveringly at the source of the shout. Lucario reached out with Aura to touch the dragon, only to be repelled mentally by massive forces of rage and distrust. But another emotion floated through the massive torrent. Lucario caught it and studied it. Remorse? Remorse at a betrayal?

Dracous shouted again, "Kyurem! It has been a long time since you've last seen the outside world and many things have changed! But you're purpose hasn't changed! You still have a purpose to destroy this world! So do just that! Send your blizzards on the four winds to the corners of the earth! Destroy everything and encase it all in ice! Fulfill your purpose!"

Kyurem roared, sending the cold winds and blizzards flying by lucario as fast as a hurricane. In fact, it was a hurricane. Kyurem jumped high into the sky and flew in circles. The whirlwind turned into a blizzard that spun in a constant vortex, sending the icy winds out. The trees all around lucario froze instantly as though paralyzed in their windswept positions. The grass also froze, forming a bed of icy spikes. Then the snow started to fall harder, combined with hail the size of basketballs. Tiny forest pokemon started to run away but they stopped as ice crawled up their legs and encased their bodies. Lucario stared in shock at this awful scene. The looks of fear on the faces of the pokemon remained paralyzed. Dracous held up his hands and laughed aloud in adoration of this destruction. Lucario cringed in fear and reached out with his mind in desperation, looking for Malik.

11:59:57

11:59:58

11:59:59

12:00:00


	21. Chapter 21

The following takes place between 12 A.M. and 1 A.M.

We all sat in the pokemon center, mentally reviewing the plan. I sat with my hands holding up my chin and my eyes closed, trying to theorize every way the plan could go wrong and how I could prepare. In the distance, outside of the building, the noises of people repairing the defenses flew in the air and filtered through the walls of the pokemon center. Orion broke the half-silence and my mental concentration. "So, exactly what is the part I play in this entire plan?"

Trisha sighed. "Don't you remember? You're with me and Drayden when we evacuate the Unova Region."

"But I don't know why I can't fight with Malik, Yusuf, and Steven. My pokemon can take it."

I opened my eyes and stared at Orion. "I know you're pokemon are up for it, but you aren't. This won't be your average pokemon battle where the trainers are never attacked. We're going up against a rampaging legendary pokemon, a powerful Aura Guardian who is probably unable to control his actions, and a former assassin who will show no mercy. It's too risky."

"I want to fight Dracous. I have a score to settle with that bastard."

"I know you want to. But I know him. He'll kill you easily and I can't let that happen. Besides, should we fail, I want to know that there are others who will protect the people from kyurem's wrath."

Drayden raised a hand. "While we're on that subject, can you explain to me how we're going to get past the mercenaries? They're spread out through the entire region and will stop the people from moving."

"Then you need to recruit them." I replied. "The fortress was completely evacuated when I and Yusuf reached it. I assume Dracous was thinking ahead and sent all of his officers and soldiers to hidden bases throughout the region so that they could survive the coming ice age. But if the mercenaries were left behind, that means they weren't included in the deal. I'm willing to bet that once they learn that Dracous has planned for the destruction of the world and them with it, they'll be happy to help evacuate the people. You'll just have to convince them."

"And if we can't?" It was the question that caused much concern for all of us. I resisted the temptation to bite my lip as I thought up a response.

"Then you're just going to fight through them." It wasn't the best answer. I knew it, and everybody else knew it. For one, the possibility of fighting out of the city was non-existent. For another, even if they could rescue the people of Oppelucid City, that still left the many hundreds of thousands of civilians in the other towns and cities unable to escape from kyurem. In the backs of our minds, we all hoped that the mercenaries would help out. "Do the best you can." Another thing no one wanted to hear.

"So," Steven started, "how are we going to know where kyurem is anyway? Obviously, we want to make sure we're not evacuating in its direction."

Trisha snickered, attracting the attention of everyone else in the room. She looked as though shocked at the obvious lack of ideas. "Well, it's obvious, isn't it?"

"What's obvious?" Yusuf asked.

"Kyurem will undoubtedly be creating some pretty serious blizzards. We can track kyurem by watching the weather channel on TV and seeing where the most severe blizzards are."

I snapped my fingers as the simplicity and wonderfulness of the plan dawned on me and I too started to snicker. "My goodness, that is simple."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Drayden interrupted. "Aren't we forgetting something? The terrorists have been blocking every TV channel so they can broadcast the videos of their invasion. How are we going to get to the weather channel?"

"Actually," Yusuf replied, "you might have that wrong Drayden. I remember seeing scores of satellite dishes on the terrorist fortress. Not all of them could have been used for transmitting and receiving communications, so what if the rest were used for jamming the TV channels. Once they were destroyed, the jamming signals would essentially stop, right?"

Trisha jumped out of her chair and walked over to the only TV in the room. The flat screen hung on the wall, suspended next to a pair of speakers. Trisha reached up and detached the remote from the TV and pushed the power button. The television responded by blinking on and showing old video of the invasion of the Unova Region. Trisha turned around, smiled at us, and pointed to the top right corner of the TV screen. The old video of the invasion was being broadcasted by a Kanto-based news agency. Pushing some buttons, Trisha navigated through the channels on the TV until arriving at the Unova weather channel. Sure enough, whatever jamming signal that may have previously existed was now gone. Trisha walked back with a self-satisfied look on her face, received her well-deserved "good job" fist bump from Yusuf, and sat down next to Orion. Pointing the remote again, she raised the volume until we could all hear it.

"…see, an unprecedented weather pattern is forming here in the north-eastern quadrant of the Unova Region." The weatherwoman stood in front of a weather map of north-east Unova. Behind her, a massive circle of white representing a massive blizzard grew slowly to tremendous size. "If you look behind me, you can see the massive blizzard slowly moving in a south-westerly direction where it should be hitting Oppelucid City in about an hour." I could hear gulps from some of the others in the room. "The blizzard has already hit Lacunosa Town, where we are receiving reports that everyone fled southward towards Undella Town. Evacuation procedures are already under way at Village Bridge and Undella Town. No reports yet about Oppelucid City where this blizzard seems to be heading. In advance of the blizzards, we're seeing strong winds and hail, which has already hit Village Bridge. Reports are coming in of hail twice the size of golf balls causing major destruction to the houses on Village Bridge."

"Pause it." I ordered. Trisha stumbled at first before her finger found the pause button on the remote. The screen froze with the weather map holding still and the weatherwoman paralyzed with her eyes closed in a blink and her mouth still open. I stood up and walked over to the screen. Pointing to a location on the map, I stated, "Kyurem is there, along with Dracous and lucario."

Steven stood up and joined me. "How can you be sure?"

"Just look at the map. There are thick blizzards and hail for miles around except here." I pointed to the very center of the blizzards. "There isn't any blizzard here. It's like the eye of a hurricane. That's where they are."

"Great." Said Yusuf sarcastically. "So how do we get there? It won't exactly be easy travel."

"Yusuf's right." Agreed Steven. "We can't fight through the blizzard and we don't have anything that can fly over it."

If only I still had my reverse world device, I thought, and then we could all get there without any problems. "I can get us through with Aura."

"How exactly?"

"I can build a shield with Aura that will surround and protect us from the hail and blizzards. Once we're in the eye, we won't need it and can continue with the plan."

Yusuf stood up. "Well, I like that plan. Where are we going to engage the enemy?"

I pointed to another location on the map. "Here, at Village Bridge. It will be evacuated, so no one will get harmed. Plus, it's raised above the ground, which will give us some help when fighting Kyurem."

"And the rest of us evacuate the city?" Drayden asked.

I turned to him while replying, "Yes. Except not just this city, but every city in the region. I want you to get everyone out of the region and out to water as soon as possible. You don't have long, so I suggest you get going."

Drayden stood up and rushed out of the pokemon center. Trisha also stood up and began pushing Orion' gurney out of the center. "You all be safe, you hear?"

"Yes, be safe. And don't be rash." Orion added.

"Yes mom and dad." Yusuf cried over his shoulder. "We'll be fine. We're only just going up against a legendary pokemon. No biggie."

Trisha stopped pushing Orion's gurney and rushed over to give Yusuf a hug. Steven and I watched the two siblings embrace in solemn silence. Both of us knew that we might not get out of this alive. Trisha broke off from Yusuf, wiped a developing tear from her eye, and left to push Orion out of the center. The three of us returned to watching the weather map. Time ticked by in silence. Finally, I asked, "Well, we ready to get going?" Steven nodded his head slowly. Yusuf took a deep breath before nodding as well. Oh yeah, I thought. We're just going up against a legendary pokemon. No biggie. I mentally scoffed. No biggie, my ass.

12:12:57

12:12:58

12:12:59

12:13:00

Drayden marched out of the pokemon center with nervousness attacking his senses. What if the mercenaries don't believe his crazy tale and choose to fight instead? Could he and the other trainers get everyone out of the city safely? And if that was even remotely possible, how were they to reach the coasts and find boats big enough to evacuate out to water?

Some of Drayden's officers stood outside to meet him. They saluted him as he approached. "General! What are your orders?"

"I'm going to the mercenary side of the city."

Despite the darkness that enveloped the city, Drayden could see that the soldiers went pale with evident shock. One gathered up the courage to ask, "Why are you going there general?"

"Because it's the only way any of us are getting out of this city. If any of you wish to accompany me, you may."

Drayden paused a moment to look at his soldiers for a noticeable response. None of them moved an inch. They simply stood there, frozen in place from shock and uncertainty. Drayden turned and walked down the street through the darkness. Still not a single soldier moved. Doesn't matter, Drayden told himself. I'd rather no more soldiers were put in any danger they didn't belong in.

In silence, he walked down the darkened streets to the Western gate. There, the soldiers tried to convince him not to go, but in end stepped aside for him to walk through. In complete silence, Drayden walked through the empty and ruined streets of the city he loved. He thought back to the time when he was chosen to lead as gym leader of the city and how many challengers since then had arrived to test their mettle against his dragon type pokemon. So many memories and so many tests of courage, and now they were coming to an end. Unova possessed a rich history of great challenges in the past, but none of the fairytales told in his youth seemed to compare to the challenge they were facing now. Now he was forced to make a difficult decision so as to save as many people as he could from a catastrophe not even was sure Malik could stop. The young man is a fool for thinking that he and his precious lucario alone have the power to stop this Kyurem.

Drayden passed the burning wreck of an upside-down school bus, trying desperately to not think of the kids who may have once inhabited it. The flames shooting out of the school bus's gas tank illuminated the surrounding streets and reflected off the millions of pieces of broken glass littered across the street. The fragile pieces of glass broke and crackled under Drayden's boots. He stopped a moment in the light of the fire to get his bearings. So much of the city had changed since the battles had ripped it apart. Seeing such widespread destruction of people's homes amazed Drayden at the power of such creatures. Such destruction; no wonder pokemon coliseums and gyms were built with extra thick walls so as to contain the battles. Finding the remains of a street sign on the ground, Drayden realized that had only a few more miles of walking left before reaching downtown city hall where the mercenaries were camped out.

Turning onto the next street, Drayden walked slowly past building after building, still in awe at the destruction before him. Even the mighty steel beams that supported the modern day skyscrapers could not stand before the brunt of a pokemon's power. Drayden shook his head sadly, wondering what held the world together if pokemon were capable of this. He remembered reading in the history books and legends about ancient battles and wars waged with pokemon throughout the world. Was the destruction about the same back then, or did pokemon curtail their power? And if the latter was true, what had happened to that curtailing now? Drayden had only witnessed such destructive battles in his gym, but out here where the destruction was widespread across an entire city, it seemed like the power of pokemon had been suddenly amplified to match their opponents blow for blow.

Drayden's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a stream of liquid fire igniting the ground in front of him. He jumped back but resisted the urge to throw one of his pokeballs. The stream of fire followed him, guided by a pokemon situated in the ruins of a skyscraper to the right overlooking the street. With a great screeching of car tires, two armored vehicles belonging to the mercenaries zoomed in at him from behind him, blocking any chance for escape. Glancing to the left while avoiding more fire, Drayden noticed the distinct shapes of humans and pokemon lying in wait in the ruins of buildings to the left. Realizing escape was impossible, Drayden unclipped his belt of pokeballs and dropped it the ground. He slowly raised his hands above his head so that all could see from the headlights of the armored cars that he was unarmed. From the armored cars, two men ran forward. One grabbed his belt of pokeballs while the other started to pat him down in search for weapons. Drayden spoke, "My name is Drayden. I'm the gym leader of Oppelucid City and I want an audience with your leader."

A third man approached from the direction of the building to the left. "And why should we allow you to see our leader gym leader Drayden? We can kill you right now if we wished. What have you to tell our leader?"

"Our conditions of surrender," replied Drayden.

Everyone stopped, and even the soldier in front of him couldn't hide his surprised look. The soldier stepped a ways away and started talking into a radio, obviously with his superiors. It did not take long for authorization to be received apparently, because the soldier put his radio away and walked back to Drayden. He gestured towards one of the soldiers, who blinded Drayden with a black sack over his head. Drayden felt himself being led to one of the armored cars and placed inside. With a roar of the engines, the armored car took off down the street. Only a few turns and Drayden felt himself lose all perception of direction. Mentally, he wished, "Malik, your mad plan had better work."

12:24:57

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12:25:00

"That's the car we're going in? You're serious?" Yusuf's mouth hung open in astonishment as he studied the car before them. Steven and I tried to hide our amusement at Yusuf's complete surprise.

"Yes Yusuf." I said. "That's the car we're going in." My eyes went back to the car. It wasn't good looking, but it was built tough and really ugly in that awful brown color. But it was the toughest car Drayden could provide at the moment. "It'll work."

"ETA to Village Bridge?" asked Steven.

"About a thirty minute drive ignoring the speed limit signs. We'll be hitting the outskirts of the blizzard long before then." I looked off to the East, confident that if it wasn't so dark, I'd see storm clouds on the horizon.

"And you're confident that this…vehicle can get through the hail and blizzards with the help of your Aura shield?"

Both I and Steven nodded confidently. "I've seen his Aura shield protect him from a falling building," said Steven.

"Well, that only worked because lucario was with me. I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Great. How about getting out?" Yusuf had a quizzical look on his face. "Just supposing that this car won't work."

I didn't have a logical answer to the question. It was incredibly likely that this car wouldn't get us out of the blizzard. If it was allowed to sit still for only a little while in that blizzard, the oil could freeze, or the engine wouldn't work. It was more likely that we wouldn't escape afterwards than not. "I'll think of something when we get to that moment."

Looking back to the pokemon center, I noticed some of Drayden's soldiers approaching, over laden with coats and snow equipment. They placed it all on the front hood of the car for us to study. "Here you go," one of them said. "This is the toughest winter gear we have at the moment."

I nodded my thanks and studied the equipment. There were three massively thick coats lined with fur for trapping heat in. The boots were tougher and thicker than ordinary shoes. Ski masks and goggles also accompanied the heavy clothing. I removed my jacket and bag and started to put on the winter coat. The weight immediately surprised me as it lay quite heavily on my shoulders. My shoes came off next in preparation for the boots when I realized that someone had placed rolled up socks in each pair of boots. The socks were thicker than ordinary socks and reached up to my knees for extra protection. So I replaced my ordinary socks with the thicker ones provided. Already, I could feel the warmth that they trapped inside. The boots went next, which made me wonder if I would ever run again, feeling the massive weight in them. I noticed the thick gloves on the car hood I put them on, tried them out with some fighting maneuvers I knew, and decided best to leave them off. The ski mask went over my head and covered everything except the eyes, which were then protected by the goggles. I felt that the goggles compromised my vision too much, so they too stayed off. Finally, the hood on the back of the winter coat went over my head to add protection from the cold. Looking at the others, I saw that they were almost finished putting on their winter gear. The scene looked more like three guys going on a ski trip rather than to a battle with a legendary pokemon.

After Steven finished, he put removed his pokeballs off of his old coat and onto the winter coat. Yusuf did the same after finishing with his winter clothes. I took my two pokeballs – blaziken's and garchomp's – and handed them over to the others. They both gave me confused looks before I said, "You'll want their help in battle."

"What about you?"

"I and Dracous are assassins. We'll fight the old fashioned way of hand-to-hand. Just make sure in the battle that you keep kyurem and lucario separate so that they can't help each other."

"Understood," Steven replied. "We'll take care of everything on our end. You just make sure that you kill Dracous."

If I can, I thought to myself. There's barely any guarantee of such a thing as me killing Dracous. He was my master of several years and has probably spent the last ten years honing his skills. Compared to him, I was only a kid student.

"Well," Steven interrupted my thoughts. "shall we be off? They won't be waiting for us."

I nodded and stepped over to the back door of the car. Steven jingled the keys to the car in his hand as he stepped into the driver's side. Yusuf walked around and sat in the passenger seat. Steven inserted the key into the ignition and turned it. The engine rumbled and started purring. Steven closed his door, buckled his seat belt, made sure I and Yusuf did the same, and said, "Alright. Here we go."

I looked out the window and noticed Trisha and her brother in the distance watching us. I waved before I lost sight of them as Steven took the car forward down the street. Once out of Old City, he turned us towards the nearest highway. Thankfully, it hadn't taken too much damage and not many cars provided obstacles for us. Steven took the car slowly up to speed until we were at least twenty over the speed limit. I closed my eyes and started to focus on the car and the surroundings with Aura. No resistance as far as I could see. Looking ahead, I scanned the skies for the storm clouds I knew were there. Indeed, the dark clouds filled the skies several miles ahead of us. With Aura, I could track the fall of every piece of hail coming from those clouds. "Okay, I can see the hail ahead of us."

Yusuf turned around to look at me. "How far away?"

"A few miles. I'm erecting the shield now." I cupped my hands in front of my face and focused my energy into the palms. Soon, a sphere of Aura energy emerged from thin air and glimmered in the palms of my hands. "Okay, here it goes. Steven, I need you to maintain a constant rate of speed."

"Understood. Do it."

I filled the small sphere with Aura energy. Like a balloon being filled with air, the sphere expanded with the energy. It covered me and stretched further. Yusuf cringed as it touched and passed right through him. Steven's driving went off course just slightly from the shock of having this massive shield cover him. I filled the sphere with more energy until it stretched outside of the car. Soon, it covered the entire car. I gasped out the air I had been holding the entire time. "Okay, it's done. It'll protect us from the hail, winds, and blizzards. We should be fine all the way to Village Bridge."

The first tests arrived soon as the first pieces of hail started falling all around us. The giant chunks of ice smashed and shattered across the pavement around us, but simply melted on contact with my shield. Yusuf looked out the window to study how the ice quickly melted against the shield. "Cool. I can see why the legend said an Aura Guardian fought off Kyurem. Only an Aura Guardian could make it through this mess. Are you intentionally melting the ice?"

I nodded. "It's much easier than blocking it. Melting the ice means simply absorbing the energy of the impact by making a thermal barrier."

The second test came with roaring wind that struck the shield as if out of a jet turbine. However, the shield's natural round shape around the car curved the winds away from the car. The final test proved to be the hardest. Massive blizzards covered the highway in ice. Multiple times, Steven had to step off the accelerator and just let the car slide on the ice. Thankfully, the highway was straight all the way to Village Bridge.

The combination of blizzards, hail, and winds put plenty of strain on the shield. I hadn't expected that it would require so much effort on my part to keep the shield up and running. Despite the frigid cold in the car by now, sweat dropped off my face from the effort of maintaining the level of energy flow to keep the shield up. Yusuf sat back in his seat and sighed. "Is this really all they could throw at us?" I kicked the back of Yusuf's seat angrily. Yusuf turned to protest my action when Steven interrupted. "I can see the towers of Village Bride up ahead. We're nearly there."

12:45:57

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12:46:00

Light flooded Drayden's vision as the black sack flew off. He blinked several times before his eyes adjusted to the abrupt change in light. Faces appeared in front of him, blurry at first before becoming clearer. The faces turned away from him and he heard one voice shout, "Commander! He's awake." Another person walked in front of him and sat on a chair just a yard or two away. Drayden focused on the guy's face. His skin was tanned color, making him look more like a Hoenn native rather than Unova. He possessed a square jaw, a slightly pointed nose, and one gray eye, which stared hard at him. A black eye patch covered the other eye, giving him an even ore menacing look. His hair was cut short in the style of a military buzz-cut. Despite looking the part of a military commander in the midst of a war with the battle uniform, he seemed to keep himself quite clean and organized.

"The famous Drayden," he observed slowly.

Drayden nodded. "Yeah, that's me."

"I hear you want to discuss your terms of surrender with me."

Another nod. "That's right."

"The high commander might not feel so generous after you have provided such resistance to his army."

Drayden resisted the urge to smile in the face of such a threat as he realized that Dracous must have been the high commander. "Well, I would sure like to discuss the terms with him, but I'm sure he's quite busy right now, what with a region to conquer."

"Yes, he is. So you'll be discussing your terms of surrender with me instead." The mercenary held out a hand for a shake from Drayden. "Commander Jericho."

Drayden took the hand and shook it. "You already know who I am commander Jericho."

Commander Jericho withdrew his hand and placed it onto his lap. "So, what are your terms for surrender?"

Drayden leaned forward and looked into Jericho's one eye. "I'm prepared to deliver all of my people in surrender on the condition that you evacuate everyone out of this region. And by everyone, I mean civilians, trainers, and you mercenaries. I want every single human being in this region out to water as soon as possible. Those are my conditions for surrender."

Commander Jericho leaned back into his chair with an amused look on his face. "You know Drayden, with a poker face like that; I'm surprised you didn't become a world-famous poker player rather than a gym leader. Tell me: why should I agree to these terms?"

"Because your high commander is about to kill everyone in this region."

Silence filled the room and the tense feeling grew thicker. Commander Jericho's eye still studied Drayden, looking for signs of deception. Seconds ticked by as Drayden waited for a response. One of the mercenaries started to laugh mockingly until Jericho's eye shot to him, silencing his mirth. The gray eye returned to Drayden, looking for deception. "You know," commander Jericho started, "I've only seen such a face as yours twice before. Both were in the middle of poker games I played in my old life. The first guy who had that face was bluffing when he went all in and I believed his bluff. Lost a lot of money that day. The second guy used the same face, but wasn't bluffing. He went all in and had the cards to do it. I thought he was bluffing and lost more money. So I'm just wondering which one are you. Are you bluffing so as to gain unfair advantage over me, or are you telling the truth and I should fold now before I lose."

Drayden leaned back into his chair. "And I've only seen such a face as yours twice before. Both were on trainers who visited my gym. They were cool an collect, always analyzing the battle to discover what my strategy was. The first one was one on one with me and so close to winning. He believed that I had a backup strategy and decided to cautiously move forward. I crushed him easily in the end. The other was also one on one with me and decided to trust his gut and push forward quickly. He earned the gym badge that day. So which one are you?"

"This could all be a trap."

"Or a person's efforts to save as many lives from catastrophe."

"Even his enemies?"

Drayden leaned forward again. "I really have no quarrel with you mercenaries. You are trainers for hire, no different than any of my soldiers if they decided to help other for payment. You used to help people and keep them safe from terrorist attacks, either through your power or through the fact that you were working with them. I have really no delight in thinking about anyone else dying in this war."

"Everyone lies."

"Everyone doesn't have a reason to lie."

"Then prove it. If such a catastrophe is coming that you of all people would want us out of this region, what is it?"

"Another ice age, created by a rampaging legendary pokemon named kyurem."

More soldiers in the room guffawed at his statement before being silenced by commander Jericho. He held out his hands to Drayden. "Continue."

Drayden leaned back and looked around the room for a moment before spying a TV on the wall nearby. "Turn on that TV and turn to the weather channel. You'll see a priority one report about a hurricane blizzard spreading in North East Unova."

"Too late," commander Jericho interrupted. "The broadcasts dead throughout the city."

"And why do you think that is? That massive blizzard must have disrupted the broadcast."

"Or your people disrupted it so as to deceive us into thinking that it was a blizzard."

"Then…" Drayden's next suggestion faded as his eyes locked onto a computer screen with a PDF file on it with the words "Protocol Omega Green" on the top. "What's that?"

Jericho looked at the computer. "Classified materials. They don't concern you."

Drayden started reading the large print on the front of the file verbally. "Protocol Omega Green to be launched immediately as of 2113 hours. Units to remain in current positions and to cease engagement with the enemy. Second wave soldiers to withdraw to tertiary positions." Drayden looked back at Jericho. "There's your proof. That order was dispatched around the same time your high commander gained possession of the key to unlock kyurem."

"Now you're talking nonsense."

"No. Where are the Second Wave soldiers now?"

"They're in tertiary positions."

"Where are those?"

"That's classified."

"Meaning you don't know. Your high commander ordered you mercenaries to stay put where you were and for his soldiers to retreat to unknown positions. And it's because he's going to kill you while his own soldiers are safe."

"Now why would our high commander do that? He's been planning this entire operation for years. We mercenaries have been in his plans for many of those years. Why would he kill us off now when we were the ones who took over the Unova region for him?"

"Because he can. You were only a means to an end and expendable in the end. Already, that massive blizzard had struck Lacunosa Town and your mercenaries there are running. The blizzards spreading fast past Village Bridge towards us and south along the Eastern Peninsula. You can verify with your soldiers." Jericho said nothing, so Drayden continued, "We are all victims in this war. Your high commander is the one behind everything that has taken place. You think you're protecting the people of the world in some holy crusade against corruption. Well, you're not. Your high commander is an instrument of corruption. He's going to wipe out civilization as we know it and he has what it takes to do it. All I'm asking is that you accept our surrender and help us evacuate everyone out of this region before more people get killed."

Commander Jericho sat in his continued silence, obviously considering what Drayden had just said. Then he looked beyond Drayden at one of his aides standing by the door. "Is there any way he could have known about Lacunosa?"

Drayden looked behind him at the aide as he shook his head. Turning, he heard Jericho state, "We received a priority one communiqué from Lacunosa. Direct communications between us and the town were broken for some reason, so the message had to be relayed all the way around Unova before it reached us less than ten minutes ago. A freak blizzard struck the town and forced the mercenaries there to retreat along with the people. Fifteen people were killed, along with seven mercenaries. It's too early in the year to see snow, much less a blizzard striking with such ferocity as to kill seven of my soldiers. The blizzard seems to have a consciousness of its own, moving west and south from Lacunosa Town. Mercenaries are already evacuating Undella Town and moving to Black City. I was just considering moving out my soldiers when you suddenly arrived with this proposal of yours." Jericho stopped a moment to chew on his lip while staring at the floor. When his eyes finally returned to Drayden, he said, "I'll accept your terms for surrender. How soon can your people get moving and where do we need to go?"

Drayden could barely contain his relief. "My people are ready to move right now. All we need is the transportation for the wounded and invalid. Then we need to get out to water as soon as possible."

Jericho nodded and said, "We can arrange that. Second Wave had possession of massive battleships designed to submerge like submarines. We've begun moving the fleet located at Undella Town towards warmer waters. I'm not sure they'll be able to hold everyone though."

"We'll worry about that detail later. Right now, we need to get everyone as far south as we can go. Your fleet can use Driftveil City, Castelia City, and Nuvema Town as the pick-up points."

"I'll relay those orders. By the way, do you have a plan for stopping the high commander?"

Drayden grimaced. "We have a plan. I'm not exactly sure it will work though."

12:57:57

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12:58:00

The tires slowly crawled to a halt on the ice and I stepped out. The cold hit me hard and stole the breath out of my lungs. I gasped for the cold air in desperation for oxygen and looked around. Village Bridge was truly massive, with the bridge at least a mile wide. Technically, it looked more like three wide bridges built very close together, with the center one serving for cars and the other two holding houses and little suburbs. Still, each bridge was massive. All of this I saw with Aura, since the massive amount of snow in the area blinded my physical eyes. The entire location felt like an icebox. I placed my unprotected hands under my armpits for warmth.

Yusuf and Steven stepped out and felt the same suffocation I had. Yusuf shouted in astonishment, "This is worse than the iceboxes in Driftveil City!"

Steven also added his astonishment. "This place makes Sinnoh feel like a tropical island."

I smiled, though they couldn't see through my ski mask. "It's certainly cold out here."

"And you're insane," Yusuf shouted. "I'm from Johto. Everyone there doesn't have thick skin like yours."

I let the insult slide off my "thick skinned" back as I walked forward. The center bridge we were on included probably the widest highway I had ever seen, with five lanes going both ways. A three hundred foot wide median with cement blocks prevented anyone from crossing over into the wrong lane. Obviously, the highway had been built this way so as to prevent heavy traffic in such a tightly populated community. I walked forward on the highway, noting the fact that not a single car or human being occupied the town. Except one, I realized, and looked up. There, standing on the crossbeam between two massive steel spires overlooking the town stood a dark figure clad in black. Over the roar of the hurricane blizzard surrounding us, I heard, "Malik! Welcome to the new world!"

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1:00:00


	22. Chapter 22

The following takes place between 1 A.M. and 2 A.M.

I stared up at Dracous standing on the crossbeam with righteous hatred burning bright in my eyes. How dare would he stand so arrogantly before me as if ignorant of the many crimes he had committed. The knowledge of what he had done with lucario awakened a new anger inside of me that desired to break out like a dragon and devour everything in sight. The fact that he was attempting the complete destruction of civilization itself only made my inner dragon stronger. But above all, seeing Sapphira's face in the back of my mind as she stayed behind to hold down the dead man's switch so that I and the others could escape before the fortress exploded; that thought forced my feet into action. I ran forward on the ice covered bridge and jumped. With the power of Aura carrying me through the air, I flew high into the air until I was level with Dracous. With a yell of rage, strengthened by the memories of lucario and Sapphira, I conjured two aura spheres in each of my palms and hurled them at Dracous' grinning face.

He just stood there. Why, I asked. Then I realized why. A dark shape emerged from the shadows behind Dracous and flew in front of him. The shape swung its arms out, contacting both aura spheres and sending them flying off in different directions away from Dracous. Shocked, I let gravity carry me to the ground where Aura cushioned my landing. The dark shape that had appeared earlier dropped down after me and landed on the bridge I front of me. I gasped, realizing finally who it was who could deflect the aura spheres. "Lucario?" I shouted. Lucario's eyes stared into mine for what felt like an eternity until I realized that he couldn't control his own actions. The first clue came from the massive metal crown atop his head, which seemed to buzz slightly. The other was lucario's eyes, which didn't seem as focused as I remembered them. They had a glazed quality to them, as if he was half comatose.

Dracous landed behind lucario. "Well Malik? What do you think of my handiwork?" He gestured to the crown on lucario's head. "In the end, pokemon are nothing but animals. And like any animal, they can be tethered and controlled. Lucario recognizes you, but he can't control his own actions. I have full control." He studied my look of horrified astonishment with amusement. "You don't know how tempting it was to simply kill lucario after he awoke kyurem. Then I said to myself, 'You know, Malik may want to see his precious pet again.' So I spared lucario just for your sake Malik. After remembering all the fond times during the old days when you and lucario would spend countless hours in training together. I couldn't just kill lucario and leave you to have to find some frozen remains, now could I."

I growled at him. "Shut up! My fight is with you Dracous for what you've done."

Dracous held up his hands in mock innocence. "What have I done? I'm bringing about the destruction of this world so as to create a brand new one; a better one. It's the kind of world that the order of Assassins wanted. It's the kind you were working for whether you realized it or not."

"You've killed over a thousand people and will kill millions more. Is that what you want for your new world; for it to be drenched in blood from the moment of creation?"

"It's a necessary sacrifice to be made for a perfect world."

"Think Dracous! If such a perfect world could be created, why can't you create it without all this genocide?"

"I've answered your questions before Malik. People in this world are corrupt-."

"And they'll be corrupt in the next world. Imperfect government is made from the imperfect people within it. You can't create a perfect world full of imperfect people."

This time, Dracous growled at me. "How dare you twist my words to fit your preconceived notions. Humanity is capable of so much more if we only put our minds to it. We've gone to the moon and have conquered every environment on earth because of our resolve and tenacity. We can choose to make this world a better place."

"Then encourage that rather than destroying the world."

"No Malik! Don't you get it? People won't try to make this world a better place if they don't believe that there are any consequences. Only if they realize that the world can be destroyed and remade if they don't treat others equally, they never will. There will never be real peace."

"Is that real peace? Fear and oppression? You are no better than the tyrants you hope to exterminate. Real peace isn't achieved through scaring the people into submission. It's achieved when people choose to work together for a better future, not influenced by higher powers."

"Your old time proverbs have no meaning in today's world. Today, only the strong survive and the weak are trampled underfoot. In the new world of my making, the strong won't let themselves grow more powerful at the expense of their weaker subjects. Instead, fear will keep them in line so that true equality can be reached. Fear of kyurem."

As if answering to the mention of its name, kyurem roared, attracting our attention to the northern bridge where kyurem was walking atop the roofs of the houses, forcing many of them to cave in under its massive weight. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Steven start to walk slowly in that direction. Looking back at Dracous, I saw his sneer as his eyes followed Steven's walk towards the legendary dragon. "You're a fool to believe that you can stop kyurem. It took the most powerful aura guardian in the world to seal him the first time. Now, the aura guardians are nearly extinct. That will be the first task I will see to when I'm finished with you Malik. I will go throughout the world and completely wipe out everyone – human and pokemon – sensitive enough to touch Aura. Your kind is an abomination, blessed with a divine power with which you lord over your fellow man. In the new world, not a single man with such power will be allowed to exist and use that power to stop kyurem or corrupt society for his own gain."

"You talk of such righteous sacrifices in the name of your new world. You've killed your own daughter Dracous. Your own flesh and blood. I connected with her through telepathy minutes before she died. I felt every fear and every sorrow she felt in her last moments. But you know what I else I felt? Betrayal. You were her biological father, the one who fell in love with her mother and brought her into this world. She felt betrayal that you would so easily cast her aside in the name of this new world of yours. Do you feel any sympathy at her death? Tell me!" my voice raised significantly in volume as I demanded an answer. "Tell me if you felt even the slightest hurt or sorrow when you ordered your subjects to kill your only daughter! Did you?"

Dracous straightened up. "We're done here." He turned to walk away towards the south bridge. "Lucario, finish them off."

"Dracous!" I shouted before being shoved out of the way by the fire enveloped fist of blaziken. Lucario's aura sphere shot over my head where my torso used to occupy. Blaziken jumped into battle with a thunder punch followed by garchomp and Yusuf's mienshao. Yusuf shouted over the noise of battle, "Malik! Get Dracous before you he gets away!"

I nodded to him and jumped up. Locating Dracous, I saw him crossing one of the many footbridges crossing the gaps between the large bridges. The dragon fully awakened and roaring in my mind, I ran after him. I reached the footbridge as he walked down the street between the rows of houses. I shouted again, "Dracous!" He turned sharply and threw a set of kunai at me. With Aura, I detected them early and dodged easily to the side. Dracous started running at me, his hands grasping the handles of two oversized scythes, their edges glinting with sharpness. These he hurled at me from twenty paces away. They spun through the air to either side of me. Only then did I see with Aura the barely visible lengths of string attached to each scythe. Dracous swung his arms pass each other across his chest, sending each scythe at each other with me in between. With barely a second's response time, I jumped into the air with a mighty leap charged with Aura. Below me, the scythes make high pitched clinking sounds as sharp blade met sharp blade.

Performing a somersault in the air, I landed feet first on the bridge twenty-five paces from Dracous. He began reeling in one scythe while hurling the other one at me. The scythe whistled through the cold air in its speedy attempt to decapitate me. I dodged to the side and sent an aura sphere at Dracous. This he blocked with his other scythe, now safely in his hand, which he proceeded to hurl at me. Now did I realize his strategy. His scythes could be thrown and reeled within a matter of seconds. He could throw both or one at a time. Either way, he hoped to keep me at a distance where, if I threw an aura sphere, he could have enough time to block with a scythe. I needed to get in close.

Sending in two aura spheres, one for lucario and one for Sapphira, I followed with a fast sprint at my adversary. He pulled back his scythes in time to block the incoming aura spheres and hurled one at my incoming approach. I jumped it and continued to run. Ten paces away. He threw the next one to one side of me before pulling it back around to attack me from the side. This one, I ducked, until I realized that that was what Dracous wanted me to do. The first scythe he threw, he pulled back. Now I had one scythe approaching from the side and another from behind. No time to jump or dodge, I closed my eyes and concentrated on the shape of my body and forming an aura shield to conform to its shape. I blew energy in as fast as I could until a light blue cloak covered my skin. The two scythes hit at about the same time, making those same high pitched metallic sounds as they contacted the impenetrable shield conforming to my skin. The two scythes dropped to the ground beside me, and I took the opportunity. Dropping the shield, I curled both of my hands into fists and struck the handles of both scythes with punches charged with Aura. The scythes from the blades to the handles completely shattered.

I decided it best not to push my luck and somersaulted back several paces to catch my breath. As used to Aura as I was, using it to such an extreme was extremely taxing on my personal strength. Dracous simply stared without changing his expression. He unclipped whatever inside his robes allowed him to reel in the scythes and allowed it to fall to his feet. I half grimaced half grinned. No more could he keep me at a distance with those scythes. Now I could get in close and possibly deliver an aura sphere to his heart and kill him.

Dracous' gaze wandered northward to where Yusuf was fighting against lucario and Steven was fighting kyurem. I too allowed my gaze to follow his. Lucario was certainly his master's pupil, outmaneuvering all of Yusuf's attacks and tactics. Steven wasn't faring much better, now forced to trying to move faster than kyurem's multiple attacks. My steely gaze returned to Dracous who continued to observe the other battles. While he watched, he spoke to me, "You are a fool, Malik. I thought I had trained you better than this." His head turned and his eyes met mine. "Are you really so focused on having your revenge against me that you would sacrifice your friends? You could have brought an army with you to fight kyurem, but instead you bring two trainers and their pokemon to fight battles they cannot possibly win, just so that you can kill me. Your thirst for revenge has clouded your mind. You are as corrupt as this civilization I will destroy."

"And what of you?" I asked. "Everything you've planned, the people you've killed, the cities you targeted; wasn't all of that driven by a thirst for revenge? You wanted to avenge the unfair treatment of Terren and the death of your wife."

"Terren was my rival during our training in the order. He was my only friend there with whom I could confide. If I truly wanted revenge for his unfair imprisonment, I could have had it fifteen years ago. I could have fought for revenge then and none of this could have happened. Cameron would still be alive." Dracous looked back to the battles raging on the other bridges. "She wanted to adopt you, you know. We spoke often about it, just in case we couldn't have children. You were always my favorite student. You and Sapphira could have been siblings – if not by blood, then by bond – had I only fought for revenge fifteen years ago for Terren's sake. But I didn't then and I still don't now. I only fight for the good of all, to create a world in which no one has to fear corruption or crime. I only do what the order of assassins was originally created to do. Had they fulfilled their purpose, such steps like the destruction of civilization would never have taken place. It is their fault that the world is as it is now." His gaze returned to me. "So you see Malik. It is not I, but you, whose actions are guided by a thirst for revenge." He opened the palm of his right hand wide, releasing the silver blade of a katana hidden in his sleeve. His gripped the handle and took up a stance ready to charge. "I'm sorry Malik, but I must destroy you to ensure that such corruption as revenge does not stand in my way." With previously unseen agility, he charged at me.

1:14:57

1:14:58

1:14:59

1:15:00

Never during even the thickest of battles did so many glittering artificial stars created by helicopters fill the skies above Oppelucid City. At least, it seemed so to Drayden as he stood atop the roof of the pokemon center to watch the scores of helicopters fly through the air in patterns to ferry people out of the city. Already throughout Old City, miniature whirlwinds whipped around the hair and clothes of those who were waiting their turn to move out of the city. Mercenaries now rushed through Old City to help the wounded where once they were fought to protect the same people. Despite past hurts and prejudices, the people still allowed the mercenaries to help them. They possessed a greater variety of medical supplies needed for some of the wounded people. They could also provide more bandages to replace old ones. Helicopters flew up into the night sky with full loads of wounded while other helicopters descended to carry more people.

With a smile of contentment at the massive amount of progress being made in so short a time, he walked down into the pokemon center and out the door onto the street. Where once very few cars were allowed, now every manner of transportation filled the streets in the rush to reach the highways so as to travel to Icirrus City in the West. The mercenaries had also opened every road and highway, helping to clear every obstacle. Armored personnel carriers now rumbled down the streets with full loads of women and children. Boxes filled with ammunition were emptied to make room for containers of extra gasoline for the long trip. Above Drayden's head, another helicopter flew low to one of the nearby town squares where more people waited in line for transportation. The helicopter rotors kicked up a cool wind which brushed past Drayden, causing him to shiver.

Drayden zipped up his thick coat and looked off to the east. According to the last weather report he had seen, the blizzard hurricane should have arrived by now. There were reports of massive hail falling on the outskirts of the city and the ever present knowledge that temperatures were dropping throughout the land, but that was it. No blizzard and no ice. So either that meant that Malik and his team were delaying kyurem, or kyurem was changing course for some reason. The latter option seemed illogical, but since the broadcast had been cut off, no weather reports were coming in to say anything different. But things were definitely getting cooler across the city, to the point where people waiting in line for the helicopters had ignited fires in trash cans to keep warm. Coats and other winter gear materials were in the process of being passed out.

Drayden walked down the street to his command center. Walking in, he noticed Trisha whispering with Orion in the corner and the commanders from both the local and mercenary forces conversing around the table. He walked over to where Orion was lying on his gurney, or supposed to be lying as it. Orion was sitting up on his bed, holding onto the aluminum pole holding his IV for support. "You two are supposed to be out of the city."

Trisha looked at Drayden pleadingly. "Yes, I know. That's what I've been trying to tell Orion here, but he won't go."

Orion held up a hand. "I want to stay behind and make sure that everyone gets out safe."

Drayden crossed his arms in front of his chest. "So, Malik tells you to stay put because of your injuries and you want to put yourself in a dangerous situation? For what reason?"

"Malik wanted me to stay behind so that he'd know there were people who could protect others from kyurem. That's what I'm doing."

Trisha sighed. "Please talk some sense into him Drayden."

Drayden opened his mouth to say something until a tap on his shoulder interrupted his concentration on the current situation. He turned and saw the face of commander Jericho. "What do you need?"

"Just giving you a status report. Seventy percent of the civilians have been ferried out of the city and taken south towards Nimbasa or Driftveil where the evacuation is being continued by other units stationed there. We're also using Icirrus City as another pick-up point for those traveling overland. Boats from downriver have been dispatched towards Tubeline Bridge to pick up as many people as they can so as to carry them south towards Castelia."

"Is there any form of evacuation you haven't tried yet?"

Jericho grimaced. "Actually, I'm getting worried that with these rapidly decreasing temperatures that we'll have problems transporting people out. I've ordered every winter helicopter in Unova to get here. These helicopters are specially equipped for evacuations in winter conditions, capable of flying through most blizzards. They'll be here within twenty minutes."

Drayden nodded and studied the floor. "We may have to start telling people to walk overland."

"That's probably not an option," Trisha interrupted. "It took about an hour to reach this city from Tubeline Bridge and that was during good weather. With it getting so cold, I don't think many people will make it. Besides, where would they go? The river can only hold so many boats, and these temperatures will soon freeze it over."

"She's right," Jericho agreed. "We'll just have to focus on getting what people we can out."

"That's if Malik and his team can keep kyurem at bay," Trisha said sullenly. Everyone went silent for a while. The mercenaries were still not big fans of the plan Malik had come up with. Still, it had kept the hurricane blizzard away this long, Drayden thought. Perhaps it will work for a while longer.

1:22:57

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1:22:59

1:23:00

I weaved right and then left, dodging the razor sharp blade that Dracous swung expertly at me. He treated this battle like a dance and I as his partner. We weaved and dodged, unable to attack each other for fear of compromising our next strategic steps. Our minds trained in the order thoughts several steps ahead, so we reached stalemates when we only had to settle for landing deflecting blows.

I jumped back and caught a quick breather before charging in with an aura sphere in each hand. Rather than throwing the spheres at Dracous, I held onto them and tried to slam them into his body where I could hit a vital part. With his katana made of a very different metal than I expected, he blocked and dodged my repeated blows. Twice, he landed hits on me, drawing blood from thin cuts on my right leg and left arm.

I ducked another swing at my head and swung out my leg so as to trip Dracous. He merely side stepped and attacked from a different angle. With one aura sphere in hand, I blocked his stab while throwing my other sphere at him. Pivoting the blade against my aura sphere, he allowed the point to contact and absorb the aura sphere. The energy of the sphere ran down the blade, causing it to glow blue, and I saw my chance. Pouring as much energy into my only aura sphere, I allowed it to flow through my hand and into Dracous' blade. The blade shined a brighter blue and tiny wisps of smoke started to waft in the air above it. There was only so much a blade could take from Aura. I continued to flow more energy into the blade until, with a mighty snap that sounded more like a thunderclap, the blade broke apart and disintegrated. Whatever remained fell to the ground in sapphire blue sparks that contacted the ice covered ground and melted through. Through the many sparks, I studied Dracous expression of shock and charged, not minding the burning sparks that brushed against my face. With clenched fists and razor sharp focus, I charged into Dracous with a flurry of punches and kicks he could barely respond to. He fell to the ground and lay on the ice, unmoving. I produced another aura sphere and held it in the air above my head. My hated foe, my mentor, the murderer of my friend and the slaver of lucario; he just lay there in the ice. I hesitated as I thought about the moment, and spun around to counter the flying dagger. It met my aura sphere and shattered into sparks.

Pivoting on my heels, I saw Dracous rise slowly from his still position. Somehow during the battle, he had placed a dagger behind me attached to one of those near invisible strings. Just before falling to the ground, he yanked on the string and sent the dagger my way. Without Aura, I would never have noticed it. Dracous straightened up and inhaled deeply of the cold crisp air. Despite the cold, I sweated, mostly from the strain of using so much Aura. I noticed my more labored breathing and how my chest heaved with exertion to breathe.

Dracous, still breathing heavily, wiped a trickle of blood coming from his mouth and reached behind his back. He produced two long, single-edged swords, with handles that were attached perpendicular to the blades. When he held them, he looked more like a gallade, except far deadlier and more dangerous. I breathed heavily once more before producing new aura spheres in my palms. With silent footsteps on the icy pavement, we charged at each other. Dracous dropped down and allowed the ice to carry his weight as he slid forward. Seeing his strategy, I jumped high an over the reach of his defensive blades, throwing one aura sphere as I went. It landed behind Dracous and burned through the ice to the pavement where it exploded. The ice cracked and shattered pieces flew in all directions like shrapnel. I landed and allowed the ice to carry me to a stop while I looked back at Dracous. He now stood on his feet steadily atop the slick ice, staring at me with a look of rage. I figured I was also giving the same look back to him.

Dracous charged at me again, dragging a blade against the ice covered road. The blade crushed through the ice and sent shards flying every which way. I slid backwards on the ice to escape the shards flying in my direction, but Dracous kept charging. So to stop the ice, I raised a hand and conjured up another aura sphere and sent it flying at the ice in front of Dracous. It melted through until it hit the pavement beneath, where it exploded. I jumped before it happened, evading the massive pieces of ice that flew everywhere. Dracous wasn't as lucky, having to shield his face with his blades. A large chunk struck him in the gut and forced him to slide backwards on the ice.

I landed back on the ice and charged him with two fresh aura spheres. He recovered from the explosion and charged towards me, baring both of his defensive swords in front of his face. We collided, my aura spheres contacting his swords, producing a flurry of sparks that lit up the night and reflected off the ice beneath us. Dracous pushed forward with his blades against the power of Aura that I flowed into the spheres in my hands. Sweat dripped down our faces from the strain. The sparks illuminated our faces in a ghostly light. Our eyes stared with steely cold malice at each other.

At last, neither of us could hold out much longer and we both slid away from each other. Dracous crouched to one knee and allowed his blades to sit on the ice by his sides; I remained to stand, but extinguished the aura spheres in my hands. Suddenly, the shadows stretched into the space once conquered by the light of my aura spheres and made everything darker. In the light reflecting off the ice from the battles taking place to the north, I could barely see the outline of Dracous. However, with Aura, I saw everything.

Dracous stood up and started pacing back and forth. "You know, you would have made a great assassin king. You certainly have the mind for it. You deserved being made a lord assassin by the council."

"What about you?" I shouted back. "You were a great lord assassin, well respected by all the others and the perfect candidate for assassin king. You could have changed the world as you saw fit from that role. Why then did you abandon us?"

"The order of assassins could no longer stand. It was no more than a club where humans were taught ancient arts of warfare. It was no longer fit to fight corruption as it was meant to be fought."

"You could have changed that. You could have led us into battle against corruption wherever it existed. And I would have followed you anywhere."

Dracous shook his head in mock sadness. "No Malik. Even you weren't prepared to fight corruption on the scale that it had grown to. Corruption has filled the world and infected the hearts of even the best people. The order of assassins wouldn't have won out against that. No, the world needed to be destroyed before the fight against corruption could be fought on an even playing field."

"You're wrong. The world still has good people in it. You've just stopped looking for them."

"Yes, there are some good people. But where were they when politicians fixed the results of an election? Where were they when companies monopolized entire industries? Where were they when security officers on the job took bribes from the very people they should have been arresting? How many countless people have suffered the death penalty for crimes they weren't guilty of? Tell me Malik, if you know."

"I don't know. But I do know that they're out there, waiting for the time when they find the courage to make a stand against what they know is wrong in the world."

"Well, that moment has come and gone. Now it's my turn. This world has to be destroyed so that corruption will not fill it. I won't let it win this time as it did over countless others before me."

I reignited a pair of Aura spheres in my hands. "And I won't let you destroy this world to achieve your diluted goals. There is a way to win over corruption without this senseless bloodshed."

Dracous bared his blades before him. "You're so naïve Malik. This world cannot survive while there are still pacifists like you who do not have the stomach to do what is necessary for the better future of the human race."

"It's because of pacifists like me that the human race still has a future in a world without bloodshed." I bared the glowing spheres of Aura before me. "Come at me Dracous with everything you've got. I'll take everything you've got and stop you."

Dracous smirked. "Well, maybe you do have the stomach to face any challenge for the sake of your beliefs. I answer your challenge willingly, and I will finish you here today so that nothing will stand in the way of the necessary destruction of the world." With a war cry, he charged forward on the ice, gaining speed the more ground he covered. I waited until he cleared the halfway point between us and charged at him. The light of my Aura spheres reflected off of his blades and illuminated his face in a ghostly light as we closed in on each other. Just looking into his eyes, I could tell that nothing would be able to deter him from his chosen path. He had his path and I had mine, and that's where we would remain. The only question remaining was who would continue walking on his path after this was over. The unspoken question rang through the air as steel blade and Aura sphere contacted in an explosive array of sparks.

1:36:57

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1:37:00

The slight pinging sound of hail falling on the eastern edge of the city mixed with the loud noises of the evacuation still taking place. Snowflakes fell gently from the sky and the massive floodlights pointed into the sky revealed only dark foreboding clouds. Every now and again, a projectile of ice fell to the ground in the populated parts of the city. Drayden meditated on the current situation in his command center while the other lieutenants gave him data incoming from throughout the city. Almost everyone had left the city by now. The mercenaries had worked quickly, loading up people in the helicopters and other vehicles to transport them to other cities. The new helicopters built to survive blizzards had arrived from Icirrus City exactly on schedule and had helped tremendously with transporting more people now with the temperatures reaching below ten degrees. Drayden exhaled, his breath becoming a fog in front of his face that quickly disappeared. Already, two helicopters not meant for these extreme weather conditions had completely stopped working as the ice gripped the bowels of the engines. Ice caked the rotors and wherever liquid still clung to the sides.

Drayden started to pace anxiously. He was waiting for Commander Jericho to arrive with the next status report on the helicopters and the evacuation. He was currently overseeing the evacuation of the remaining citizens and his own troops. Oppelucid City resembled a ghost town. Only the ruins of wrecked cars filled the streets. Not a single civilian walked the streets, and only a handful still lingered in the city. Drayden ceased his pacing to look over at two such civilians. Trisha and her boyfriend still remained in the command center against Drayden's wishes and their better judgment. Drayden walked over to them. "Why the hell are you two still here? We're nearly at subzero temperatures here and you two act as though it's all okay."

Orion shrugged. "It's all okay."

Trisha crossed her arms and confronted her boyfriend. "No, it's not alright. We should leave soon."

"She's right," Drayden remarked. "It's no longer safe for anyone in this city."

"I know that," Orion replied, "but I must remain until I know that everyone is safely away."

A gust of icy cold wind entered the command center as someone entered through the door. Goose bumps sprang up on everyone's skin as the subzero wind chill forced everyone to cease their chatter and wrap their coats tighter around them. The door closed with a mighty thud and the warmth of the generator filled the room again. Drayden turned to see who had entered and saw Commander Jericho stomping his feet in an effort to keep warm. "What's the word from out there?" asked Drayden.

"Not good. Three more helicopters froze up and I've ordered those still working to move to warmer climates. The winter helicopters are still working though. The hail is starting to fall around other areas of the city, and there's a lot more coming after it. I guess your friends weren't able to stop kyurem after all."

"They at least delayed the blizzard from reaching Oppelucid City long enough for us to evacuate."

"Well, we need to get everyone else out on the last flights. It's now or never."

"Do we have enough helicopters for everyone else?"

Jericho nodded. "I have five winter helicopters waiting for us. Only four would probably be sufficient for everyone."

"Roger that. Alright lieutenants, organize the last of the people onto the winter helicopters and let's get moving out to Nimbasa City. The sooner, the better."

All of the officers jumped to attention and bound themselves tighter in their winter clothes before rushing out into the frigid outside world. Drayden turned around to continue the discussion with Orion when he suddenly realized that Orion had disappeared. Trisha turned back from listening to Jericho's report and gasped. "Where's Orion?"

"You don't know?" inquired Drayden.

"No. He must have slipped out while we were all listening to Commander Jericho. I never saw him."

Drayden growled. "That idiot. He's injured and half-dead as is and he has the nerve to slip out in the midst of an incoming blizzard. Come on, let's look for him." Drayden zipped up his winter coat, tightened his ear muffs, and walked out of the room. Once the door opened, the cold air hit him like a sledgehammer and stole the air out of his lungs. He gasped for air and forced himself forward. Trisha followed cautiously, also bound up in her winter clothes. Looking around, Drayden immediately noticed the limping form of Orion walking down the road. "There he is. Come on." He had to shout for Trisha to hear over the swirling blizzard in the sky. She nodded her response and the two took off after Orion. Orion turned a corner, walking towards one of the clearings. Drayden cursed aloud as he realized Orion's intentions. "He's planning to take one of the winter helicopters!"

"Why would he do that?" Trisha shouted back.

"I don't know! Let's just stop him before he does something stupid!" Drayden and Trisha picked up the pace and turned the same corner as Orion, who had already reached the winter helicopter. The massive craft sat in the middle of the intersection of four streets. A whirring sound originating from the engines gave the impression that they were still running to keep off the ice. It wasn't really a helicopter to Drayden. He imagined rotors, but this craft had jet engines. The jet engines were arranged atop the helicopter on two booms in a square formation. The two in front were lower than the two in the rear and also worked for steering the craft. Orion carefully touched the ladder leading up to the cockpit with a gloved hand when Drayden shouted, "Orion! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Orion turned around to face his pursuers. "Commander Jericho said it himself. You only need four of the five winter helicopters. I'm taking this one to get Malik and the others."

"Are you crazy?" Drayden yelled. "You have a death wish or something? They're fighting a legendary pokemon along with who knows what else and you think you can simply drop in and pick them up?"

"Yeah. This helicopter can fly at a high altitude and I can drop down-."

"No! I don't want to hear your clever plan! You're not doing this!"

"Why not? They can't get out on their own and they need help. We can provide it."

"It was a suicide mission and they knew it! They're most likely dead by now!"

Drayden stopped as the forbidden words tumbled out of his mouth. He glanced over at Trisha, who stood completely numb – as much as from the cold as from Drayden's words – staring stoically at Orion. "Orion, if you think you can, please, please bring my brother back along with everyone else."

Orion raised his hand to his brow in some sort of mock salute. "I will Trisha. I promise." With that, he climbed up and into the cockpit of the winter helicopter. Drayden and Trisha stepped back while he revved up the engines. Hot air blasted out of the turbines and filled the area with a very comfortable warmth. A shout behind him alerted Drayden to the presence of someone else. He turned to see Commander Jericho running up. "Hey! What does that guy think he's doing?"

Drayden stopped Jericho with his arms. "Relax commander. He's taking one of the helicopters to Village Bridge to see if he can rescue his friends."

"And you let him?" he replied accusingly. "Isn't it enough that you've sent four good trainers on a suicide mission? Now you send a fourth and expect me to be okay with it?"

"Shut it. We don't need that helicopter. Load everyone else on the other four and we'll head straight for Nimbasa City. If Orion returns with his friends, then it wouldn't have been a wasted effort."

The helicopter was already launching itself into the sky through the help of the four powerful jet engines. Jericho watched the craft rise higher and higher into the night sky. "You had better be sure about this Drayden. Otherwise, you just allowed four trainers to willingly rush to their own deaths."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take for the sake of saving countless lives."

"Then their blood will be on your hands. No come on. We're loading up and we'll be leaving within ten minutes."

Drayden nodded and urged Trisha to follow him and Jericho. She remained a few seconds to watch as the glowing lights of the helicopter traveled farther and farther away until disappearing entirely in the storm clouds above. At that moment, the massive floodlights pointed at the sky shut off one by one in preparation for the evacuation. Jericho and Drayden switched on flashlights and led the way to the nearest winter helicopter, followed by Trisha, who breathed a silent prayer for the safety of Orion and Yusuf.

1:53:57

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1:54:00

Ice shattered and cold winds swept the landscape of Village Bridge as I and Dracous separated once again. My Aura spheres winked out and Dracous' swords looked heavy in his tired arms. I sweated, and my sweat turned to ice once they hit the ground by my feet. My winter clothes weighed heavily on my shoulders, and the strain of conjuring aura spheres felt like it was increased a hundredfold. Dracous gasped for breath and looked past me to the other battles raging on Village Bridge. I dared a glance behind me to see Yusuf struggling to keep lucario at bay and to see Steven retreating from kyurem more than fighting. Looking back at Dracous, I saw him smirk in sadistic approval. "They're finished. Nothing stands in the way of them and death. You must be nearly finished too. Is it getting harder to produce Aura? Is it harder to fight back? You're done for Malik, like every other assassin before you who stood in my way."

I gasped for more air and squared my shoulders in defiance. "No, not yet. I can still take anything you've got."

Dracous shook his head. "No, you can't. I can see it on your face. You're reaching the end of your strength. Soon, you'll burn yourself out and become nothing but a hollow shell with no energy to move forward with."

I forced my mouth to form a smirk. "No, you're wrong. I've still got the power to fight. See here!" I produced two more Aura spheres. From the strain, I nearly doubled over in pain. Resisting the urge to vomit, I charged forward. Dracous, obviously unprepared for this unexpected assault, bared his swords in defense. I hurtled myself at him with every ounce of strength I had left in my limbs. Aura sphere contacted steel blade and the sparks flew again. Dracous slid back on the ice from the force of my assault, but remained steady in his defense. I knew his swords remained too strong for Aura to cut through. Then, in a desperate attempt to disarm Dracous, I allowed the Aura spheres to destabilize in my hands. They exploded, sending myself and Dracous flying backwards. I hit the icy ground and slid back a good twenty yards before regaining my composure. The distant sounds of steel clanging against ice far to my left and far to my right told me everything I needed to know: the explosion had forced the swords out of Dracous' hands. I reached out with Aura, looking for Dracous. Despite a more blurry vision, I could see him sprawled out on the ice fifty yards in front of me. As he started to rise, I conjured up one last Aura sphere, pouring what little energy into it without killing myself. Again resisting the urge to vomit, I raced forward on the ice towards my enemy. Dracous rose and drew a knife from inside his cloak. Ten yards away, I hurled myself across the final stretch at Dracous. He stood still, waiting for my attack. I reached back and threw my arm forward at him with the aura sphere as though throwing a fist at him. I saw the Aura sphere make contact with Dracous, mere milliseconds before I felt a deep stabbing pain penetrated my abdomen.

1:59:57

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2:00:00


	23. Chapter 23

The following takes place between 2 A.M. and 3 A.M.

I gasped in pain and fell on top of Dracous in my descent. He collapsed under my weight, still holding the knife steady. He hit the ice and I rolled off. In Dracous' tight grip, the knife slid out of my body, producing a thin stream of blood leaking through the fabric of the winter coat. I coughed, and with a shock, I tasted blood in my mouth. I checked with my numb and shivering fingers the point at which the blade penetrated my body. Thankfully, it didn't seem to go very deep and it hadn't hit a major artery or a vital spot. Looking over at Dracous, I saw him lying on his back, gasping for air. His head turned and his eyes met mine. "You…" he croaked, "have truly earned your role as a lord assassin. You're willing to do all that is necessary in the name of your beliefs, as incorrect as they are. Even taking a knife to the abdomen."

I grunted as I crawled over to him. "I'll live. You on the other hand took an aura sphere to the chest. Right now, the organs in your torso are shutting down, starting with your lungs by the sound of it."

He coughed and blood dripped down from his mouth. "You've got that wrong." Another cough escaped his mouth. "You won't survive this no matter how much you try."

I stared at him, holding my facial expressions under control. "What do you mean?"

He coughed, expelling more blood that stained the ice. "Poisoned knife. It doesn't matter if it didn't strike a vital spot. By now, the poison would have infiltrated multiple blood veins and is traveling throughout your body. You won't live to see the morning sun."

Keeping calm, I quietly said, "So long as there is still a morning sun to look forward to. I swore that I would stop you for what you've done and I have. You're finished Dracous."

He forced a smile. "Then your revenge is complete. Revenge for lucario, Orion, and Sapphira. But nothing you can do can change anything that has taken place this day."

"No, it can't change anything that has already taken place. But it makes sure that there are no more Orions, Sapphiras, and lucarios in the future."

Dracous coughed up more blood. I could tell that his body was failing. Once his heart shut down from the effects of the Aura sphere, he would die. "I promise you Malik, others will rise to finish what I've started. This world is so full of corruption, there's no hope for its continued survival. It must be destroyed. Sooner or later, someone will rise to finish what I've started."

"And I will make sure that there will be those who will stop such destruction. I have not lost faith yet in humanity."

Dracous scoffed and coughed more. "Faith, huh? Your faith is ill-placed. Humanity has failed. Evil is so prevalent in this world."

I nodded in agreement. "Yes. Evil will always exist where humanity exists. That's why your plan of destroying the world wouldn't have worked. The people you left alive would have allowed evil to fill the world. Not even the order of assassins can stop such a thing from happening. The order was never created to prevent evil. It was created to protect the innocent from the effects of that evil. The prophecy didn't say that the order was supposed to leave the world without any hint of corruption; just leave it in the hands of people who would continue the fight. And that's what they've done through the regional governments. Yes, there are problems. But humanity has the capability to rise above those problems and continue the fight against evil and corruption. I have faith in that."

Dracous remained still, aside from the occasional cough. Then, he spoke, "I have no regrets. All that I've done was for the good of all humanity. The regional governments are only tools of corruption. They forced the order of assassins to withdraw when the order should have been adopting a more active role in the regions. Such opportunity is now forever lost because of the regional governments."

"No. So long as there are trainers who will fight back against evil, the regional governments haven't failed."

Dracous coughed out even more blood. "Keep believing that Malik. But when the whole world is falling apart and evil reigns supreme without resistance, then you will wish that you had let me destroy this world when I could. You'll regret killing me Malik when that day comes. You'll…" Coughs broke up his sentence. More blood poured from his mouth as his chest heaved in exertion to expel the crimson liquid. Dracous coughed, took one last desperate gasp for air, and then went limp on the ground. I reached down with two fingers and felt Dracous' neck. Although my fingers were numb from the cold, I could still feel slight warmth from when he was alive, but no pulse. To make absolutely certain, I felt his wrists and laid an ear to his chest to check for breathing. Still no pulse or breathing. Dracous was well and truly dead.

I stood up shakily, still feeling weak from having to use so much Aura in the battle. I pressed a hand against my knife wound. The blood flow wasn't too serious. The winter clothes combined with the cold temperatures helped in keeping it under control. Still, I knew that Dracous couldn't have been lying about the poison. Every assassin was taught to carry a poisoned knife on hand in case of a hard opponent. Even I carried one for a while back in the day. Besides, why would he lie when he knew he was dying?

I walked slowly north to across one of the footbridges to the middle bridge. Almost as soon as I stepped onto the middle bridge, I felt my mind opened and touched by another presence. I collapsed from the shock and reached out; embracing whatever foreign presence was there. It felt so familiar; excitement filled my mind and traveled down the link to the other mind. The link filled with feelings of joy and excitement. I shouted mentally, "Lucario? Is that you?"

"Yes master!"

I started to run to where the presence was calling. I saw figures start to appear. It was Yusuf surrounded by pokemon. He stood up; also gasping for breath after what must have been a tough battle. One stood up and ran to me with long strides. I shouted for joy at seeing lucario. He jumped at me and I caught him in a bear hug. We connected our minds after what seemed like an eternity of being separated from each other.

"Master, your injured," warned lucario.

"I know," I replied. "Keep it quiet."

Yusuf withdrew his pokemon and mine and walked over to me. "Hey Malik."

I nodded acknowledgement to him. "How'd things go on your end?"

Yusuf groaned. "Not good for the entire battle. Lucario's strong, I'll give you that. It was getting desperate when just now, he snapped out of his stupor. Took that awful metal crown off by himself. Was that because of something that happened on your end?"

I nodded again. "Yeah. Dracous is dead."

"Then lucario must be free finally."

"Yeah. I guess-."

An explosion shook the bridges and we looked off to the northern bridge. We could see the figure of Steven jumping over the massive gap between the bridges and running towards us, followed shortly by his metagross. "Hey guys! When you're done with your conversation, can you help me out here?"

I looked up beyond Steven and saw the massive form of kyurem mounting the rooftops and preparing to jump after Steven. Yusuf looked desperately down to his belt at his pokeballs. "Blast! I don't think my pokemon are ready for this."

"I and lucario are too tired to manage this one," I said. "We have to retreat."

"Agreed. But how will we get out of here? That ccar can't make it through this cold weather. And it can't outrun kyurem on those icy highways."

Steven joined us with his metagross. "All of my pokemon except metagross are down. What's the plan?"

"We have to run, but we don't have the proper transportation necessary."

"Then we'll just have to make our stand here. Who can still fight?"

"All of my pokemon are too weak from fighting lucario," said Yusuf.

"I'm too weak from fighting Dracous, and lucario's severely weakened as well."

Steven growled and turned back to face the incoming legendary pokemon. "Well that," Steven bit the multiple curses that he wanted to say at that moment. "How can we fight kyurem if we're not ready."

"I don't know. We just have to try." I took my pokeballs back from Yusuf and threw them. Blaziken, garchomp, and zoroark – all tired from battle – appeared in bright white light. Yusuf threw his pokeballs, summoning typhlosion, mienshao, and latios. Steven remained with metagross as the rest of his pokemon were out of commission. Lucario jumped to the front line alongside my pokemon. We all tried to stand steady as kyurem jumped off of the northern bridge and flew through the air. We all braced for the massive impact that would come when kyurem landed on the bridge when suddenly, the sound of loud roaring from above us attracted our attention away from the legendary pokemon. Multiple blasts of energy flew through the sky. A flamethrower cut through the icy wind like a hot knife through butter, striking kyurem on its head. A focus blast followed the flame, forcing kyurem to retreat to its previous position on the north bridge. Next, two pokemon flew through the air and struck kyurem with strong physical fighting attacks. I focused above me to see the lights of a helicopter descending through the clouds above. We all backed away as a massive craft powered with four jet engines landed on the bridge where we were just standing.

I shielded my face from the heat. The entire bridge was enveloped in a cozy warmth that felt amazing. I looked at the cockpit to see the last person I expected to see climbing out. "Orion? That you?"

He waved and smiled at us. "Yeah, it's me. My, you all look terrible." He laughed at his own joke and gestured towards the helicopter. "Come on. This is the last helicopter out of Village Bridge and you had better be on it when we ship out."

We all obeyed his command and started withdrawing pokemon. Steven and Yusuf ran and jumped into the helicopter. I followed Orion as he limped around the front of the helicopter to check in on his pokemon doing battle with kyurem. Volcarona was firing flamethrower after flamethrower while zoroark and samurott attacked with fighting moves. He ran – limped more than ran really – to his pokemon and ordered them to withdraw. I ran forward after him as I saw kyurem take advantage of the pause in its enemy's attacks to strike back. With a mighty leap, the pokemon cleared the gap between the bridges easily and landed on the middle bridge. The structure shook violently and I felt for sure it would give in under the massive weight of kyurem. Orion was knocked onto his back and he screamed in pain. Samurott and zoroark rushed back into battle to protect their master while I and lucario rushed to Orion's aid. He stood shakily up and leaned on our shoulders while returning to the helicopter. Volcarona shielded us with his body while the other two pokemon slowly fell back. We reached the helicopter where we carefully loaded Orion in the back. Samurott, zoroark, and volcarona piled in after him, followed by lucario and I. "Alright, we're ready!" I shouted. "Take us out!"

Steven had already clambered into the cockpit and buckled in. We closed the side doors to the cargo hold and Steven took us up. The four massive engines roared louder than kyurem and lifted the helicopter quickly into the air. Through the window in the side door, I watched as kyurem stared at his escaping prey. It almost looked like he was about to jump and chase us, but then he settled down and simply watched us fade away into the sky. The helicopter rose higher and higher until it rose above the hurricane blizzard. Steven directed the craft southward towards Nimbasa City and we all watched as the swirling clouds passed beneath us, thankful to have escaped with our lives.

2:09:57

2:09:58

2:09:59

2:10:00

Trisha watched the snow start to fall from inside the pokemon center in Nimbasa City. Apparently, the natural weather patterns in the region had finally changed due to the growing blizzards in the north. Snowfall was common the entire flight south from Oppelucid City. Being in the same helicopter as Drayden and Jericho was the most depressing thing ever. Once clear of most of the blizzards, they could receive communiqués from the outside and she got to hear every word of it. Icirrus City was evacuating south to Mistralton City. Thankfully, the commercials pilots there were willing to load up the massive jumbo jets with people for the long flights to other regions. So nearly everyone was leaving their homes to escape the incoming storms. Nimbasa City was a ghost town with only mercenaries present by Drayden's request to prepare to take on kyurem if necessary. Undella Town was covered in ice and the bay had completely frozen over. Thankfully, none of the necessary boats were left behind and were all steaming south to their rendezvous points to extract the populace. Black City was evacuating and heading south towards Nuvema Town for extraction by the navy. Castelia City was packed with people from Nimbasa City, Oppelucid City, and Nacrene City.

So far, the overall evacuation was running smoothly under the supervision of the mercenaries. Their militaristic coordination allowed for the smooth process by which tens of thousands had already left the region. Every ocean-worthy boat that could travel through winter conditions were outfitted and loaded with people for the long voyage away from Unova. Even massive cargo ships were emptied to make room for people. Desperate times called for desperate measures, or so Drayden said. Trisha gazed out into the early morning sky, wondering if she would be able to see the rising sun. Only black storm clouds filled the sky, making seeing anything at this hour nigh impossible without proper lighting. Even the friendly environment of the pokemon center had some shadowed areas that made Trisha uncomfortable. This was her home town of Nimbasa City, but it felt so foreign to her and scary sometimes.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw commander Jericho and Drayden discussing military stuff at one of the booths in the center. It amazed her that those two could remain so calm in a situation like this. Btu then again, she thought to herself. They were trained for stuff like this. She wasn't. Inwardly, she was freaking out and frightened. She wanted Orion back so that he could comfort her and hold her in his arms. Why did he have to leave at a time like this? And in his condition, was he even safe?

Trisha gazed out the window again, hoping to catch a glance of the winter helicopter Orion had stolen. In front of the pokemon center, multiple lights marked out a clear landing pad for the helicopter. Still no sign. What was keeping him so long? Trisha tried to set her mind to something else so as to not think about Orion, but try as she might, she couldn't stop thinking about him. What if something had happened to him during the flight? What if he had made it, but couldn't rescue the others? What if kyurem had killed him? She checked her watch.

2:14:27

She yawned. As much as she tried to stop it, the yawn escaped. This early in the morning, she needed sleep, but she was too busy worrying to fall asleep. She could just imagine the scene at Village Bridge. The others were dead, killed by Dracous, lucario, and kyurem. Their bodies and the corpses of their pokemon littered the highway running through Village Bridge, and their blood discolored the ice. Then with a roar of engines, Orion appeared in his helicopter, hoping to save his friends from their deaths. Dracous looked up at the incoming craft and smiled in that evil way bad guys always smile in. He ordered lucario to attack and shoot down the craft. Lucario did, shooting Aura spheres at the engines and causing the helicopter to fall, never to rise again. Orion tumbled out of the cockpit and threw his pokeballs. Every pokemon he had on hand went into battle. Then kyurem charged in, crushing every pokemon underfoot. Samurott stood bravely, only to be ripped to shreds by kyurem's claws. Then, after all of the pokemon were finished, kyurem faced Orion. Orion couldn't run away, so he faced the legendary pokemon bravely. Dracous simply said, "Kill him," and kyurem attacked Orion with his claws. The claws penetrated deep into Orion's body. He screamed as he probably had during his torture a while ago. Then kyurem leaned its head down and started to bite and chew Orion's body as though it were a plaything. Dracous simply stood by and watched the scene in sadistic pleasure. After the deed was done, kyurem looked up into the sky and roared a roar of triumph. The roar went on and on and on. Trisha couldn't bear to listen to it anymore. She covered her ears and stood up with a scream, "Orion!"

Drayden and commander Jericho looked at her. "Hey! You okay? We saw you sleeping and didn't want to disturb you."

Trisha looked around quizzically, and then looked down at her watch.

2:24:57

She had been sleeping? That scene she had imagined was all just a nightmare? Then, "What was that roaring I heard?"

"You mean the helicopter? It just landed outside. It must have woken you up."

Then it all came back to Trisha. She had been waiting at the window for Orion to return and must have dozed off. Then the roar of the jet engines got into her dream and became kyurem's roar of victory. But that was a dream and the winter helicopter had just landed. And that meant…

The doors to the pokemon center slid open and in came Malik, Yusuf, and lucario, followed shortly by Steven pushing a wheelchair with Orion in it. Trisha squeaked her delight and nearly jumped on top of her boyfriend had Steven not warned her against it. Drayden and Jericho stood up and welcomed the group back from their mission. With that, everyone walked back to the medical wing for treatment.

I sat down on a big comfy chair while one of the nurses checked him for any external signs of injury. Thankfully, they skipped a blood test. I wanted to keep the knowledge of my poisoning a secret from everyone else. Orion was taken immediately for an x-ray to check his body for any internal problems that may have resulted from his daring rescue. All of the pokemon were taken elsewhere to receive priority treatment for their wounds. Lucario was scanned to check for signs that he could have been affected by that strange device Dracous had put on him. So far, nothing seemed out of the ordinary with him or I. I allowed bandages to be placed on my wounds from the fight with Dracous. Still, no one inquired if anything was wrong with me.

Once everything important was out of the way, the group minus Orion sat on the comfy chairs in the waiting room. Lucario stood patiently behind me like some bodyguard. Drayden started the conversation: "So, what's the plan now?"

Steven smacked his left fist into the palm of his right hand. "We gather every trainer who can fight and we take on kyurem before he continues any further."

"No." I stated coldly. "That would be a mistake."

"I thought the plan was to take on kyruem at Village Bridge. You failed in that regard because it's still coming."

"The plan wasn't to stop kyurem at Village Bridge. The plan was to get lucario back by killing Dracous. We succeeded."

"Well then," Drayden inquired, "what is the plan exactly for stopping kyurem?"

"I and lucario will do take on kyurem." I looked back at lucario and we nodded our agreement to each other.

"But that's ridiculous," interjected Yusuf.

"You didn't think it was so ridiculous back in Oppelucid City," I retorted.

"That was before I saw kyurem's power. You and lucario are both injured and weakened. What makes you think that you can stop kyurem?"

I clasped my hands together and leaned my chin on them. "There's an island just north of here in the middle of Unova. It was an ancient home of Aura Guardians. There, we will gain the strength from the Aura still lingering there; enough to take on kyurem."

"That's your plan?" Steven asked. "You're going to perform a magic trick and take down kyurem?"

Lucario growled threateningly but I silenced him. "It's not magic. It's real, and it's what locked up kyurem a thousand years ago."

"But how can we be sure it will work this time?"

"We can't. You just have to have faith."

"Faith?" Steven asked angrily. "Faith is dead! It's time to look at the facts and face this threat with a sure fire means of defeating kyurem. We need to get every trainer-."

I stood up. "I can't let you do that. You'll destroy the region."

Steven responded by standing up and standing up close to me. Only now did I realize how tall and muscular he was compared to me. "You know, I just fought a battle against kyurem. I saw his power first hand, and I tell you, the region is destroyed as is. We must stop kyurem right now before more damage is done."

"I'll stop kyurem. You just have to let me."

"And if you fail?"

"That's not an option in my mind. I'm locking kyurem back in that vault."

Steven chuckled. "You're believing fairy tales Malik. Fairy tales. They're not true. It's time to put childish ways aside and face this threat like men."

"If you face this threat like men, you'll rip this entire region apart. Isn't it enough that the entire population has been forced to evacuate? Now you want to destroy the region as well?"

"It's a better alternative than placing all our hopes on an injured trainer and a weak pokemon who believe in fairy tales."

Lucario jumped angrily at Steven and would have landed on him had I not held him back. Yusuf stood up to get between me and Steven. "Stop it, both of you. We can't be fighting at a time like this." He turned to Steven and said, "Please Steven. Malik hasn't failed us yet and maybe we should trust him in this. He knows what he's doing." He turned to me. "However Malik, if you can't stop kyurem, then I and Steven will be leading an army to stop it and we don't care what gets torn apart. So you have better hope that your plan works."

I nodded my thanks to Yusuf. "Thank you. We'll leave as soon as possible."

"Hold on," interjected Commander Jericho. "You want to leave now?"

"Yeah. There's no sense in wasting time waiting for something to happen."

"But shouldn't you rest a while longer before leaving? You're still pretty exhausted."

"I know my limits and so does lucario. Believe me, we're nowhere close to reaching our limits. We can still fight it out against kyurem."

"What's the rest of us supposed to do in the meantime?" asked Trisha.

"We should all head south towards Castelia City," suggested Yusuf, "and help with the evacuation while we wait to see the results of Malik's plan. At least there, we'll have more access to powerful trainers in case Malik doesn't succeed."

"I agree." I concurred. "You all should head south for your own safety."

"Then let's get going," said Trisha as she stood up. Just then, the sliding doors leading to the examination room opened and Nurse Joy entered. Trisha turned to her with questioning eyes. "Nurse Joy. How's Orion?"

Joy bowed her head. "I'm sorry, but his body was simply taxed beyond its limit during the rescue attempt. When he fell to the ground, it injured him severely."

Trisha covered her mouth with her hands, too shocked for words. Yusuf came alongside her and put a comforting arm around her shoulders. "How bad is it Nurse Joy?" he asked.

"I'm afraid the x-ray showed cracking in his spinal cord. I've run some tests to make absolutely certain, but it appears that he's been paralyzed from the waist down; most likely permanently."

"But," Yusuf started, "he was tortured beyond recognition without any paralysis. How could have just now become paralyzed simply by falling down."

"I don't have all the details since I wasn't present during the torture." Nurse Joy visibly shuddered at the thoughts she was probably having about what the torture must have looked like. "I just know that his rescue attempt at Village Bridge injured his spine. I've already told him about it."

"Can we see him?" finally asked Trisha.

"You may. Just not too many."

Trisha and Yusuf started to walk through the door when I tapped Yusuf on the shoulder and whispered, "Hey, I still need to talk to you about something."

Yusuf let his sister go on ahead of him and returned to me. "What do you need?"

"I need latios for transportation. Can you provide?"

"Sure." Yusuf shuffled through his winter clothes until he found latios' pokeball, which he handed to me. "Anything else?"

"No. Go be with your sister and Orion."

After Yusuf left, I faced Nurse Joy. "Can Orion still be transported?"

"I don't see why not. I saw nothing on the x-ray that would suggest that he's in any more danger."

"Good." Turning to the others, I spoke, "I'm going with lucario to engage kyurem. You all need to evacuate everyone else out of Nimbasa City and oversee the evacuations to the south."

Everyone nodded silently, and I walked out of the waiting room through the pokemon center. Behind me, I could hear with my sharp ears Steven whisper, "Did he just leave like business-as-usual after hearing that his best friend was just crippled."

"Yeah," was Drayden's response.

"This Malik is different. He seems colder and more distant. It's like he cares about nothing else than taking on kyurem."

The doors of the pokemon slid open, letting in a mighty gust of wintery cold air. The words of the conversation were lost in the wind and when the doors slid closed behind me.

2:34:57

2:34:58

2:34:59

2:35:00

The cold wind whipped at my face as I released latios from his pokeball. The blue and white dragon flew gracefully through the air and returned to me with a cry of greeting. I briefly explained to latios that we were going to an island located due north from here to fight kyurem and that latios needed to get us there quickly. Latios nodded and let us on his back. Once on, latios took off into the sky, flying a comfortable altitude and speed for us. The city of Nimbasa passed beneath us. The only lights I could see were the floodlights and the lights downtown where the pokemon center was located. Every other part of the city resembled a ghost town, with darkness so deep; I could barely make out the outlines of the skyscrapers. Thankfully, latios avoided every single tower and obstacle in his way.

As the city passed beneath us, I leaned back slightly against lucario sitting behind me. "Master," he asked, "where's Sapphira?"

The forbidden question. The one I didn't want to answer. I took things slow, thinking up a response. "She…she died at the terrorist fortress. She stayed behind so that we could escape." I showed lucario my memories of the event, including the time that I and Sapphira had spent connected mentally. Lucario remained silent through it all, neither transmitting emotions nor thoughts.

When it was all over, lucario finally spoke, "I'm sorry master. She was a great friend and ally. Her loss will be mourned."

Now I neither transmitted emotions nor thoughts. I only stared into the empty blackness ahead of us in silence. Above us, broiling dark clouds warned of the incoming storm. Flakes of snow fell through the air on the invisible wings of the wind.

"Master?" lucario asked, sending me thoughts of concern.

"What is it lucario?"

"Why were you so cold back at the pokemon center? The others couldn't see what I did. You were ready to kill or seriously hurt Steven if he went ahead with his plan. And then when you heard about Orion's condition, you hardly reacted. It's as though you didn't care."

I sighed, the sound of it disappearing in the rushing wind. "I wanted to leave quickly without saying goodbye."

"But why would you say goodbye master?"

I was silent for a moment as I thought up a response. "Lucario, you are in my head as I am in yours. I cannot lie to you. The truth is," I mentally paused to relax the nerves, "I'm dying."

Lucario's emotions of shock flowed like a rushing a river through a broken dam into my head. "What?"

"On the bridge when I killed Dracous, he stabbed me with a poisoned blade. It's the kind of poison that will kill quickly. I won't live to see the morning sunshine. If we manage to stop kyurem, you'll be returning alone. I'll stay behind."

"But master, that's preposterous. You don't have to stay behind."

"Actually, I do. Who do you think is going to lock up kyurem?"

"I will master!"

"And what good will that accomplish? I'm dying lucario. It might as well be me sacrificing myself to lock up kyurem."

"Master, I'm the one Dracous used to open The Vault. If there's no Aura Guardian in the world more powerful than I, then I should lock up kyurem so that no one else will release it."

"No!" I shouted, silencing lucario's flow of emotions and thoughts. "There's no guarantee that there won't be a more powerful Aura Guardian than you. Instead, I should lock kyurem up."

"But master-."

"Lucario, please understand my words. I need you to live. You're the most powerful Aura Guardian I know. It should be you still living so that you can teach someone else to fight evil in the future. That's how it should be: one generation teaching the next to continue the good fight against evil like Dracous and kyurem. Do you understand?"

"I don't want to master."

"I know you don't, but please try. It's for the best."

"I wish there was a better way of convincing me of that."

"There isn't. You just have to believe and have faith."

Lucario was silent awhile, contemplating what I had just said. "And what if we can't stop kyurem?"

"Then I guess we'll have to cross that bridge when we come to it. There's no sense in foretelling a future that hasn't been written yet."

Silence, aside from the noise of the rushing cold wind, dominated the conversation. Sensing ahead with Aura, I saw the telltale signs of the massive hale. With lucario's help, I erected the same Aura shield to protect us from the hale until we reached the eye of the hurricane blizzard. Through the bluish field of the shield, I could see the massive pieces of hail hitting it and melting away.

"So what's so special about this island we're going to?" asked lucario.

"You remember what the timekeeper told us back at that castle? Where there were a lot of Aura Guardians in one place for a long time, traces of Aura were usually left behind. At the castle, there were tangible traces of Aura holding that tower together. I'm willing to bet that this island – the original home of Aura Guardians – holds such traces of Aura. We can use it for extra energy against kyurem."

Lucario contemplated this for a moment until he struck on the part of the part of the plan I was keeping hidden. "That was your plan all along?" lucario inquired. "You knew all along that neither of us had the energy alone to face kyurem. So we're going to take the energy out of that island. Simply sacrificing your life to lock up kyurem wouldn't be a seal strong enough to last through the ages. You wanted to use your body as a conduit for all of that energy on the island and use it to seal up kyurem. I'm right, aren't I?"

I mentally affirmed his theory. "Yeah. I don't want kyurem being released again and wreaking such havoc on the world. So instead of locking it up with my little energy, I'll use the Aura locked inside that island."

"You know what that means right? If you take every scrap of Aura from the island, it will be devoid of the energy needed in the future if someone happens to release kyurem again."

"Then I'll be sure to lock kyurem securely. I won't fail in this."

"Why not let me do this master? I can provide more energy and control the island energy at the same time."

"No. I've told you once lucario, I'm dying. There'll be no point to sacrificing yourself when I'm going to die before sunrise. You said so yourself: perhaps someone could release kyurem after I lock it up with the energy in the island. If that is true, then I want to know that you're still around to fight. If we both needlessly sacrifice our lives, then who will remain to counter threats in the future? Please lucario, live to fight another day."

Lucario began to reply when latios cried out. I mentally turned away from lucario and focused on scanning the land ahead. We had just entered the eye of the hurricane, so we dropped the Aura shield around us. Latios began to drop in altitude as we neared a large lake with an island perfectly centered in the water. Trees covered the island except for a single clearing, also perfectly centered on the island. As we neared the clearing, I felt the soft snowflakes of early winter touch my face and melt against my body heat. Dark clouds circled ominously around the island as we flew gracefully over the frozen surface of the lake. I looked down, intrigued at the patterns in the frozen surface. The hurricane must have produced a strong wind that disturbed the surface of the water, that must have instantly frozen when the cold set in, leaving the surface of the lake covered in spikes and frozen waves like some artistically carved ice sculpture.

The frozen lake gave way to the forested land of the island, where the branches of the evergreen trees were completely encased in ice and heavy laden with snow. Some trees tops bent completely to the ground under the weight and some had snapped completely asunder. Latios slowed gently as he dropped into the clearing. Looking around with my physical eyes and with Aura, I could discern the outlines of ancient ruins from buildings built millennia ago. In the center of the clearing, an odd looking spiral structure rose high into the clearing, equaling the heights of the stronger, taller evergreens ringing the clearing. "How intriguing," I mused.

"Indeed master. I could feel the Aura of this island from a long way's off."

"This did used to be the ancestral home of the Aura Guardians of Unova. I'm not surprised at the Aura, just the amount of it. It's incredible. I can taste it."

Latios landed and let us get off. Turning to latios, I said softly, "Latios, I want you to fly far away from here. If we manage to stop kyurem, then I want you to fly back to pick up lucario and take him back to Castelia City. You understand?"

Latios nodded and gave a little cry of assent before flying off and disappearing beyond the trees. Turning around, I saw lucario meditating on the icy ground while snow fell all around him. Not wishing to disturb his focus, I walked over to the odd spiral structure. Touching it, I felt an amazing amount of warmth resonating from it. What an incredible feeling, I thought to myself. How many generations lived in this city a thousand years ago? I figured it was a city from the number of ruins around the island. Did the Aura Guardians of a thousand years ago live any differently than I do today? They must have been well respected throughout the region and throughout the world for their strength and amazing abilities. How great must that war a long time ago have been to lead to the near extermination of the Aura Guardians? I was one of the few left who could control Aura. Both I and lucario suspected that there could be thousands throughout the world who could touch Aura, with only the lack of proper teachers preventing them from controlling it. I remembered the words of Dracous when he told me how he wanted to kill every single Aura Guardian because of the great power they had been blessed with. Shuddering from the cold and the memories of those words, I wondered what must have been going on in Dracous' mind to make him degenerate to the point where he would kill so many people.

A strong gust of wind rustled my clothes and forced me to cover the bottom half of my face with a thick bandana. Lucario walked up next to me and ominously spoke, "Kyurem's here. I could feel his wrath approaching closer and closer."

"Okay." Taking one last relaxed breath of air, I said, "Get his attention when he flies over."

We didn't have long to wait. The massive shape of kyurem crossed over us, making it appear somewhat darker in the clearing than it was before. Lucario hurled an aura sphere at the dragon flying overhead, which struck it squarely on the belly. Kyurem roared and turned around and flew back to us. Trees snapped and cracked with the sound like oversized firecrackers as kyurem landed on our south side. The dragon roared at us, exhaling a strong cold wind which forced me to step back and my heart to thump faster with adrenaline. Lucario glanced at me and I returned the look, and into the tempest we charged.

2:53:57

2:53:58

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2:54:00

Lucario charged in on the left, hurling two aura spheres at a time at kyurem. I charged in on the right, attracting kyurem's attention away from my partner as best I could. Kyurem roared and rose into the air, trying to gain the high ground in this contest. The wind swirled around the clearing faster and faster, and the snowflakes that used to melt against my skin now stung my eyes. Kyurem roared and hail from the clouds dropped like bullets onto the clearing. Branches of trees took direct hits and disintegrated from the impact. I produced an aura shield to protect from the hail as I ran around on the ground.

Meanwhile, lucario jumped up to the trees, hopping from branch to branch as gracefully as a deerling. Reaching the top, he jumped. With Aura, I could trace the outline of how lucario bent the power of Aura around his legs and into the sky above him, giving him unchallengeable access to the skies above kyurem. Once there, Lucario produced sphere after aura sphere to hurl down on kyurem. Kyurem turned on a dime and flew straight at lucario, tackling him with a mightiness that shook the trees. Lucario fell to the trees below where I caught him in Aura. "Lucario, are you okay?" I asked.

He grunted. "Yes master. This is harder than it looks, but I'm okay."

Without another word, lucario stood up and ran back into battle. I trailed at a distance until kyurem came into view. Lucario continued running straight while I jumped up into the trees. We coordinated our moves perfectly in our minds. I reached the tops of the trees just as lucario reached the far side of the clearing. From my vantage point at the top of the tree, I could see kyurem diving in at lucario. Bending Aura around my legs and into the sky in the same manner as lucario had done, I jumped into the air above kyurem. Rather than attacking immediately, I straightened my body and dived at kyurem from directly behind. With kyurem disrupting the air ahead, I felt little resistance until I landed on kyurem's back. Kyurem ceased diving and flew back up into the air. It swiveled its head to look at me with a single eye as I clung on while attacking his back with aura spheres. No matter what I could do, kyurem's skin wouldn't break. I transmitted this frantically to lucario.

"You need something sharper master!" he replied.

"Like what? I didn't bring a sword with me."

"You have to use something master! If you can't cut through the skin, I won't be able to slip an aura sphere through kyurem's defenses."

Just then, Kyurem rose to a mighty height and shook his body. Unable to hold on, I let go and fell to earth. For safe measure, I hurled another aura sphere at kyurem's face to keep it disorientated. Lucario caught me on the ground with Aura and we both looked up at the circling dragon. "Great. Now what do we do?" Neither of us had a response as kyurem regained its composure and dived at us.

2:59:57

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3:00:00


	24. Chapter 24

The following takes place between 3 A.M. and 4 A.M.

The wind whistled through the quiet streets of Castelia City like thousands of moaning ghosts looking for sanctuary. Snow, starting to settle in drifts on the streets, flew up with the wind before floating down ominously like ash. The city was dark, darker than anyplace Trisha had ever walked before. She walked slowly through the snow drifts, carefully stepping so as not to accidently slip on the hidden curbs or gutters. Looking up, the tops of the skyscrapers were hidden from view in the early morning darkness. Not a single floodlight illuminated the sky above now. Every now and again, the twinkling lights of a winter grade helicopter zipped through the sky, but Trisha was uninterested.

As she turned a corner, the wall blocked most of the cold wind and the snow fell at a regular pace straight down. Even out of the wind, feeling the cold flakes hit her cheek stung. That is, until her cheeks were so numb from the cold, she couldn't feel a thing. Desperate, she covered them with her gloved hands in an effort to keep her face warm. Against her better sense, she had volunteered to walk through a few city blocks in the search for survivors or stragglers who could be evacuated out of the region before the blizzard hit in full force. For her few minutes of walking around, she hadn't found anyone still in the city. It was a ghost town, completely devoid of people or any signs of life for that matter. It was like catching a glimpse of the future of the world if Malik and lucario failed in their mission.

Rounding yet another corner in the lonely city, Trisha caught a glimpse of a flashlight pointed in her direction. Walking towards it with the wind beating against her, she struggled to push through the snow piling higher and higher on the streets. Reaching the flashlight, she realized that it was Steven carrying it. He grabbed her and brought her under his arm comfortingly for warmth. No words were spoken as the pair turned and walked steadily back to the waterside pokemon center.

Fire-type pokemon in front of the center blew fire through their maws to melt the snow blocking the entrance. Glancing out to sea, Trisha saw the massive lights atop boats illuminating the work of steel and fighting-type pokemon busily working to break whatever ice built up in the harbor and prevented escape. As the doors to the pokemon center slid open, she felt a massive blast of warmth from the multiple generators in the room. Despite the evacuation running smoothly so far, the center was still crowded with scores of people waiting their turn onto the escape boats. Steven half led, half dragged Trisha through the crowd to where Orion was lying next to a generator. Orion glanced at her with a look of deep concern. Trisha collapsed on the cold linoleum floor next to the generator and held up her shivering hands to one of the open vents. Steven stood close by, also warming himself by the heat of the generator. When Trisha regained use of her mouth, she stuttered out, "T-t-there's n-n-no on-one e-e-else in the c-c-city as f-f-f-far as I-I-I cou-cou-could see."

"You did good Trisha," replied Steven. "I appreciate the help. Orion, watch over her while I report to the other leaders."

"You know I will," Orion replied.

Trisha looked up at Orion and smiled. Looking back at Steven, she asked, "Where Yusuf?"

Steven looked around in the crowded room. "Your brother must still be out looking for stragglers in the city." Then he walked off to one of the back rooms.

Orion reached down a reassuring hand and touched Trisha's shoulder. "He'll be fine. That guy's as strong as nails."

Trisha took the hand in one of hers, making Orion flinch slightly. "What is it?" she asked.

"You have really, really cold hands."

Trisha couldn't help but laugh. "Well, look who isn't as tough as nails. While I've been outside, you've been warming your buns by the generator."

"Hey," Orion retorted, "cripples have privileges you know."

Trisha's laugh stopped dead as if silenced by a gag. Ever since leaving Nimbasa City, they hadn't discussed Orion's latest problem. To think that he was now crippled permanently from his wounds was almost too much for Trisha. Thankfully, the awkward moment of silenced didn't last long as someone on the center's intercom system just announced for the next group of people to leave and load up on one of the escape boats. Throughout the room, people donned thick coats and gloves. What few kids still remained where lifted and held close to their parents for warmth. Slowly, people started to shuffle out of the pokemon center, leaving the realm of warmth and entering the cold outside. Trisha and Orion watched the activity quietly from their position next to the generator, silently wishing them all good luck on their exodus to faraway lands.

With one hand, Orion started to massage Trisha's shoulders. "They'll be fine, just like the hundreds of other groups that have already left."

"I'm not worried about them. They're leaving for warmer and safer climates while Malik and lucario are fighting the source of all this chaos."

"I worry about them too."

"You think that they won't be able to win?"

"I don't know. It seems unlikely. But I know Malik and lucario can take care of themselves. They can be very unpredictable at times."

The sliding doors closed after the last of the refugees, denying access to the cold wind from outside. Scores of people still occupied the center, all waiting for the last boat leaving. Trisha sighed. "Our boat is next."

"Yup," agreed Orion. "I'll still be here to protect you. Don't worry."

Trisha grinned and relaxed against Orion's gurney as his hand continue to press against her shoulder. Warmth from the generator washed over them as they enjoyed the brief moment of tranquility. Suddenly, a rush of cold wind rushing in through the opening doors broke the moment of tranquility. Trisha and Orion looked over to the entrance where Yusuf walked in, shivering from his journeys outside. H walked over to the couple and started to warm his hands in front of the generator. "Wher-wher-where's Ste-Ste-Steven?" he stuttered.

As if on cue, Steven walked into the room. Yusuf glanced at him and stuttered, "No o-o-one f-f-found."

"Alright," replied Steven. "I guess that's everyone else. Yusuf, do you want to stay behind with the rear guard or go on the next boat with your sister?"

Yusuf looked down at Orion and Trisha. "I trust Orion to protect my sister. I can protect her also by staying behind to fight kyurem."

Trisha looked worryingly up at Steven. "How many people are staying behind to fight kyurem if Malik can't stop it?"

"One hundred and thirteen trainers and mercenaries, all of whom have experience training pokemon with type-advantages against kyurem."

"You know it's possible that all one hundred and thirteen of you are going to die, right?" asked Orion with an aggressive tone in his voice. "You're going to send all of them to their deaths?"

"Whatever it takes to stop kyurem from rampaging across the world. And for your information, they all volunteered for this with all knowledge as to what they were facing. I'm not forcing anyone to go to their deaths."

Yusuf sat down in front of Trisha and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. "Calm down Trisha. This is what I've chosen. It's the best way I can protect you and everyone else."

She crossed her arms and looked away from Yusuf. "If you only had faith in Malik and lucario, none of this would be necessary."

"We can't afford to trust Malik's plan when it's so improbable to succeed," stated Steven.

"But he's an Aura Guardian," protested Trisha, "just like in that fairy tale."

Yusuf shook Trisha's shoulders. "Trisha, you're an adult now. Stop living in fairy tales. This is reality: Malik and lucario may not succeed. We need to be ready for the possibility."

"That's right," Steven agreed, "and you two will be on the last boat out of the city, so it really doesn't matter how much you protest."

Even Orion had to agree, as he leaned down and whispered in Trisha's ear, "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to go along with what they say. Please Trisha."

Trisha gazed into everyone's face, looking for any possibility of arguing her point, anything so that no one would have to risk their deaths. Seeing no such possibility, her shoulder slumped and she gloomily stared at the floor between her feet. She hardly noticed when Drayden walked up and started conversing with Steven and Yusuf about the next boat being ready in ten minutes. She didn't even notice when Orion resumed massaging her shoulder with one hand. Yusuf stood up and left the room with Steven and Drayden, leaving the two of them next to the running generator. Orion leaned down again and whispered, "I'm sorry." A minute later, Trisha dropped off to sleep from exhaustion while Orion continued to massage her shoulder and watch over her like a guardian angel.

3:13:57

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3:14:00

I crouched behind a boulder, allowing the shards of ice to sail over my head. With Aura, I tracked lucario's movements on the far side of the clearing as he jumped over kyurem. Spheres of Aura jumped from his palms and sailed into kyurem's unprotected back without leaving so much as a wound. Even now in the battle that was tiring myself and lucario, kyurem's defenses were still too strong for us to break through. Now we fought in hopes of reaching a stalemate that could weaken kyurem. However, the more we fought, the weaker we felt. True, the Aura trapped in the island kept us going well beyond our natural limits, but even that wasn't enough against a legendary pokemon.

Lucario finished his attack and landed on the ground twenty yards away from me. Kyurem readjusted himself in the air and charged at us. "My turn," I communicated mentally. Coiling Aura around my legs like a spring, I jumped. The cold wind rushed past me so quickly, it brought tears to my eyes and stole the air out of my lungs. Kyurem bared his fangs, rready to snap me out of the air. On cue, lucario's aura spheres from below struck him on the jaw, creating a distraction that allowed me to fly past his razor sharp teeth. Conjuring aura spheres in my palms, I attacked kyurem's neck, hoping to find his weak spot. None of them made it past kyurem's scales. I grabbed onto one of kyurem's spikes to cease my flying. "It's still not working!" I shouted mentally at lucario down below.

"Why won't it work master?"

"These aura spheres are hammers against kyurem's scales. I need a sword, not a hammer."

"Then make one master."

"I can't, not with Aura. The design is too complex, more complex than a simple sphere."

"You have to figure out how to do it master. Is there any way you can think of?"

I wracked my brains, looking for the answer. To make a sword from Aura would require so much mental concentration just to form the shape. Unless... "I've got it. I just need to form Aura around a basic sword structure. And I have just the sword." From within the folds of my garment, I pulled out one of my throwing knives. With one hand on the spike, I focused on the shape of the dagger. Bluish silver Aura, like wisps of fog, wrapped itself around the blade. It was bulky and without any sharp edge, but the basic shape was there. Molding the Aura with my mind like a potter would mold clay; I extended the point of the Aura blade and sharpened the edges. Meanwhile, kyurem flew in crazy patterns above the island, trying to shake me off its back. I held on for dear life while extending and sharpening the blade. Soon, the metal dagger that was only a foot long was wrapped in Aura making a sword three feet long.

Ready, I looked for a gap between kyurem's scales nearby. Finding it, I drove the Aura sword into it. I felt the flesh beneath give way to the blade of aura as it cut deeper and deeper into kyurem. The metal dagger hit the scales, being too wide to fit through the gap. Kyurem roared in anger and pain, shaking his body violently. I lost control of the Aura blade and it vaporized into the air as I flew off of kyurem's back. Regaining composure, I softened the landing with Aura and crouched on the ground. Kyurem twisted violently in the air from the pain of the blade. I smiled in satisfaction just as lucario ran up to me. "Master, are you okay?"

"I'm fine lucario. The blade worked." I held up the dagger for lucario to study. "Now we have a way to get past kyurem's defenses."

"What's the plan?"

"You're going to stay on the ground and be ready for my signal. I'm going to drive this blade into kyurem's heart. When I signal you, I want you to pummel this blade with as many aura spheres as you can. The sword will channel the aura into kyurem's body and steadily weaken him."

"Yes master. Good luck."

Kyurem stopped twisting in midair and faced us, hatred burning brightly in its eyes. I refocused my attention on the metal dagger, wrapping Aura around it and bending it to form a blade like the first one. "Ready?" Lucario mentally affirmed his readiness. The blade was ready, slightly longer and much sharper than the first one. "Alright. Let's do this."

At my command, Aura coiled around my legs. Kyurem began to dive through the air, sending the blizzard ahead of him at us. Forming a shield of Aura before me, I jumped into the blizzard. Kyurem's attack against my defense was ferocious. I fought through the blizzards as best I could, almost falling short of my target. Kyurem dived in on me, baring a mouth full of teeth. I ducked beneath and grabbed for kyurem's neck. With Aura, I found a gap beneath two scales over the heart. Using the momentum of my jump, I plunged the Aura sword between the scales until the hilt of the dagger stuck in the gap. Kyurem roared in anguish, throwing me off and to the ground. I cushioned my landing, holding my focus on the Aura blade. "Now lucario!"

Lucario conjured an aura sphere in each palm and smashed them together in front of him, creating a larger sphere. With a roar, lucario pointed this giant sphere at the legendary pokemon and released aura sphere after aura sphere. From within the massive sphere, tiny spheres were formed and quickly shot. Each one from this rapid-fire aura sphere move flew straight and true, striking the dagger embedded in kyurem's chest. I focused on holding the sword's shape with Aura, allowing the energy in the spheres to flow into kyurem's body where they caused immense damage to the internal organs. I noticed immediately how kyurem's wings flapped unevenly and barely at all. Looking at lucario bathed in the bluish light of the aura sphere, I noticed he too looked tired. "Just a little more lucario! Keep it up!"

Kyurem's eyes drooped and I knew it was the end. Kyurem growled angrily until his wings stopped flailing in the air. Lazily, he dropped out of the sky and fell to earth. Trees and ruins cracked under the weight as kyurem struck the earth. The ground shook violently, forcing both lucario and I to crouch for balance. Kyurem's wings hit next, sending snow and rubble flying every which way. I covered my face with my arms to block the snow and rocks. The wind rushed past my face, stealing the breath out of my lungs and chilling me to the bone despite the heavy clothes I wore. When I opened my eyes and removed my arms, I found snow covering almost every inch of my clothed body. The entire clearing around the unconscious form of kyurem was devoid of snow and ruins.

I rushed over to lucario, who like I had been covered in snow from kyurem's impact. He shook off the snow and faced me. "We…we did it master."

I looked over at kyurem. "Not yet. We still have to find out how to put him back in The Vault so that he won't disturb the world again."

"It's conceivable that you can do that with Aura master."

I nodded and stood up. Looking at kyurem's unconscious form, I wondered how I would attempt to lock it up in The Vault. My mind shot back to the conversation I and lucario had on the way here. _If we manage to stop kyurem, you'll be returning alone. I'll stay behind._ I knew that it would end here on this cold island in the middle of the region. With a sigh, I turned to face my friend. "I guess this is goodbye lucario."

Lucario tried to stop the tears from showing. "I will never forget your teaching master."

"We had a good run going too. All the adventures and the trials. We have some good laughs."

Lucario stood up and embraced me, careful not to cut me on any of his spikes. "I'll miss you master."

I returned the embrace. "Lucario, you're one of the few Aura Guardians left in the world. It's your responsibility to look after the world and keep people safe."

"I will Malik. I promise."

I didn't attempt to stop the tears that were now flowing from my eyes. Lucario managed to control himself more, but still tears flowed from his eyes. "Lucario, I have something to tell you quickly, before it's too late."

"Anything master," he practically begged. "Tell me."

I leaned down and whispered in one of his ears. When he heard the news, his ears perked up and he stepped back with an expression of surprise. I nodded. "You know what to do."

It took a while for lucario to form the words. "Yes…yes master."

I held up a hand and shook my head. "No. The student has surpassed the master. You're my friend lucario, closer than a brother. Someday, you'll be the master with a student under your tutelage. Teach them as well as I have taught you."

"Yes mast…yes Malik."

I looked over at the still form of kyurem and steadily started to walk over in that direction. Lucario rushed after me. "Master! Will I ever see you again?"

I turned and faced lucario. "If we meet again, it won't be in this time."

"Then I'll see you in another time master?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "I don't know. It might be possible. If so, I'll see you then." I turned back and reached kyurem. Placing my hand on the dragon's thick scaled side, I could still feel the warmth of a living creature. Refusing to turn my head to look at lucario, I said in a low voice, "Goodbye lucario."

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3:30:00

Trisha sat curled up in a ball on Orion's lap as a nurse pushed the wheelchair slowly on the icy street towards the last boat sailing out of the Unova Region. Around them, huddled masses of people trying to keep warm in the sheer cold. Trisha drew her head up to look at Orion. He had such a solemn look the way he stared straight ahead at the boat waiting in the dock. The entire procession looked solemn, with people marching slowly in line to the last boat. The last boat, Trisha thought. There's a movie title in there somewhere. A giggle escaped Trisha's lips. Orion broke eye contact with the boat to look down at her. "What's so funny?"

"I don't know. I was just thinking about this being the last boat. We could make a movie out of this event."

"We could. Now that I can't go traveling on adventures again, we could probably settle as movie makers."

"I don't know. It was just an idea. I don't think I could go as an actor."

"Sometimes, the best actors are common people who've been through tragic events like this. They don't need to act on screen. They just have to relive those events."

Trisha curled back into her ball as a gust of cold wind broke through the defensive line of people around them. "I don't want to relive any of this. I keep wishing it was all a nightmare, but it isn't."

Orion stroked Trisha's hair. Twenty-four hours without a shower had made her hair dirty and grimy, but to Orion, it was still the most beautiful hair he'd ever touched. "Is this really a nightmare? It looks like a romance drama to me. You and I together on the last boat after twenty-four hours of trials and tribulations."

"But we're not even the main characters. I'd say the main characters were Malik and lucario. I think it's an adventure story."

"Okay. We can film an adventure story. I still think it's a romance drama mixed with suspense. It would be an instant hit in the theatres."

Trisha giggled again at the thought. "The Last Boat. The story of a couple who survived the worst twenty-four hours of their lives. Romance, drama, and suspense."

Orion joined in her giggling. "I tell you, it would be an instant hit."

Now both were laughing, trading ideas about the movie. Suddenly, bright light flooded their vision. People screamed in shock and dropped to the ground. The entire column stopped suddenly as warmth, like that of the summer sun, filled the space. The light faded and Trisha stood up from her seat on Orion's lap. She gazed to the north, where a long reaching street divided the skyscrapers enough for her to see a massive beam of light reaching up into the clouds. The beam was silvery blue, as thin as a thread from Trisha's vantage point. Orion couldn't see because of the crowds. "What is it?"

"It's…I don't know. I see a beam of light stretching up to the clouds to the 's so far away."

"How far away?"

"Maybe as far away as Nimbasa City. Could it have been Malik?"

At that exact moment, someone shouted, "Look, the snow!"

Trisha glanced at her feet where, sure enough, something was happening to the snow. It was melting, faster than it usually does. Turning out to the ocean, she noticed massive chunks of the frozen water breaking off and then breaking into smaller pieces. The entire harbor soon looked like a giant slush drink. The work crews working in the harbor shouted for joy as ice melted and broke and melted again. Looking up at the sky, her jaw dropped in amazement as the clouds split open, revealing a black sky filled with thousands of twinkling stars. The moon, at a little more than halfway full, glowed off in the distance. Her eyes caught sight of a shooting star cutting through the darkness. Orion's hands grabbed her waist and forced her to sit down on his lap again where she sat in his embrace. Orion whispered in one of her ears, "I wish that we would stay together forever and ever."

"I wish that too." She turned her head and gazed into Orion's eyes. Everyone around them was celebrating, but in that moment, they were completely oblivious to everyone else except each other. How much time passed? Neither knew the answer as they kissed and enjoyed each other's embrace.

Steven and Yusuf rushed up, interrupting the moment. Yusuf turned crimson and Steven coughed. Orion broke contact with Trisha and looked at the source of the interruption. "What is it?"

"Nothing," Yusuf replied sheepishly.

Steven and Trisha looked at each other until Steven finally gave in. "Okay, okay, okay. You told me so, I know."

"Yeah. I told you Malik would do it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Give it a rest already."

Everyone except Steven started laughing until Orion interrupted with the obvious question. "So where's Malik?"

Yusuf started to answer when a sudden boom resonated in the skies above the city. Sound waves bounced violently against every wall and window. People around them screamed in shock. Yusuf looked upwards and answered, "There they are."

Before long, a streak of blue and white appeared in the sky directly above them, sprinting through the air like a bullet until settling to a hovering stop next to them. Latios' one rider, lucario, stepped off his fellow pokemon. He faced the group of friends with a look of complete solemnness. Trisha was the first to ask as she stood up, "Lucario, where's Malik?"

Taking a deep breath and predicting the lengthy dialogue to follow, lucario stated, "He decided to stay behind and use everything he had to locking up kyurem." Another deep breath. "….He's dead."

Silence, only cut by the sounds of distant celebrations, fell over the scene. Everyone's mouth dropped in shock. Orion stammered, "Wha-wha-what hap-happened?"

"He used his body as conduit for the Aura still trapped on the island and channeled it into locking up kyurem. That's what created the massive light you've probably seen. Pretty soon, snow and ice started melting and the clouds split open. But Malik couldn't risk anyone else unlocking kyurem, so he added every last bit of his own Aura into the process. I don't even know if I could open The Vault now as it is. He…just left."

"Just left?" asked Trisha. "What do you mean?"

"His body just disappeared, sparkled like millions of blue fireflies. It all flew into the sky and he…was just gone like that. There was nothing left."

Silence. Dead silence. Thoughts raged through their minds at breakneck speeds. Orion finally moved and swiveled his wheelchair, pushing the wheels forward until he was up close to lucario. "Lucario, you tell me something right now." Their eyes locked. Orion's steely glare sent mental shivers through lucario's mind. "Why wasn't it you taking the risk?"

"I wanted to, but Malik wouldn't let me. It wouldn't have solved anything."

"Wouldn't…have…solved…anything?" Orion emphasized each word as though baring them as blades dripping in poison. "What the bloody hell are you talking about, 'wouldn't solve anything'? It should have been you taking the risk out there."

"Orion," begged Trisha, "please…"

"Malik was dying." Lucario finally replied, breaking the dialogue into another silence. "He was poisoned by Dracous on Village Bridge. Even if I had locked up kyruem, he would have been dead by morning."

"Why didn't he say anything to us?"

Lucario sighed and shrugged. "He didn't want to make a fuss that would have distracted you. It was better to keep you in the dark and focused on the task ahead. Only when it was safe could you be told. I'm sorry."

Orion sat back into his wheelchair, dazed at the thoughts of Malik's death. Trisha walked back to Orion and started massaging his shoulders. Steven walked up and said, "I say we all go out and get a drink. Café Sonata's owner was supposed to be on the last boat. Now he's the only business in town. Let's go there and remember Malik over a drink."

Lucario stepped back. "You all go on without me. I'd like to be alone for a while. I may not be coming back for a while."

"You're not running away, are you?" Trisha asked.

"I'm wild now. The only people who could have ever been considered my masters are both dead." That's right, thought Trisha. Sapphira caught lucario in that pokeball. Now she and Malik are both dead. "I belong on the run, out there in the wild."

"Will we ever see you again?"

Lucario shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. Farewell." With a steady gait, lucario started walking off through the crowd that cleared for him. Behind him, everyone said, "sorry" before he started running. Further down the road, he disappeared into the darkness.

Trisha and Orion turned back to the other guys. "Well, we going yet?"

Yusuf sighed and walked past them to latios. Trisha growled and put her fists on her hips. "Yusuf, I know that look on your face. You're thinking of running too?"

"I'm not running, alright. I just…need some time alone…to think."

"So will we be seeing _you _at all?" Orion asked.

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"What's going on here?" Trisha asked, assuming a questioning pose. "Everyone's acting so melodramatic."

"It's just how we must feel right now. Later sis." Yusuf jumped atop latios and started flying off into the distance before he too disappeared in the darkness.

Trisha faced the remaining guys. "Either of you want to leave or are we going to Café Sonata?"

Steven shook his head. Orion replied, "It's not like I can get away quicker than you can pull me back. Let's get going."

With Trisha sitting on Orion's lap and Steven pushing them both in the wheelchair, the group wound their way through the crowd and down the street to where they would connect with the street leading to Café Sonata. Turning a corner, they found the front of the café lit up like a holiday with the help of a generator. Friendly looking lights illuminated the entrance in a soft yellow glow. Passing by windows, they glanced in to see many people gathered and celebrating the end of the crisis. A sign out front read, "FREE DRINKS!" Trisha read the sign and started lecturing Orion about the dangers of getting drunk while Steven continued to push, though his ears caught every last funny bit of the conversation in front of him.

Entering the Café, they were immediately greeted with a wave of applause from people recognizing them as some of the fighters. Some people even surrendered their table for the three of them. Trisha's face turned bright crimson at the standing ovations throughout the restaurant. A volunteer waitress rushed up with a tray of three wine glasses brimming with sparkling champagne. Trisha took a seat next to Orion and Steven sat opposite them. Gazing at their glasses and thinking about the last six months - especially the last twenty-four hours – they never talked. Finally, Steven raised his glass for a toast. People all over the room ceased their conversation for a chance to join in on the toast. Trisha and Orion picked up their glasses as well. "A toast," Steven shouted, "to the last assassin!"

"To the last assassin!" replied a chorus of voices. Even though many of them probably didn't realize who the 'last assassin' was, they echoed their leader's toast. Merriment returned to the restaurant and conversations filled the air. Steven placed his glass back on the table before slightly elevating it and, in a hushed voice, said, "To Malik." Trisha and Orion smiled as they tapped their glasses against Steven's and drank to the last assassin.

3:45:57

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3:45:59

3:46:00

Lucario stood atop the spire on Skyarrow Bridge, overlooking the river and the land beyond. Only then did he allow himself the natural response to death. Rarely had anyone heard a lucario's howl. Such a howl was sorrowful and terrifying at the same time. Lucario howled a sorrowful tune. The sound echoed off the desolate bridge and disappeared into the distance. Tears streamed from his eyes as lucario pounded the concrete beneath his paws. Life wasn't fair. It was too early for the student to bury the master. His master had been cruelly snatched away from him by the poisoned blade of another assassin, a mentor and a friend. Life was cruel, and it only made him howl all the more.

Finished, lucario straightened up and gazed down at the river beneath him. The water flowed much more quickly, having been released from its icy prison upstream. Nature itself had suffered from the events of the last twenty-four hours and would have to readjust. He closed his eyes and reminisced on what Malik had whispered in his ear on the island.

_Malik leaned down and whispered in lucario's ear, "Lucario, listen to me. Sapphira is still alive. She had my reverse-world device with her, hidden under her shirt. She told me. Before the explosion, she escaped to the reverse world. She's probably stuck there, so I need you to do everything you can to rescue her. I don't know how you will, but you just have to, for me."_

_Lucario steped back in shock at the news he had just heard. Was it possible? Could Sapphira really be alive? He had seen his master's memories of that moment when the explosion destroyed the fortress. Could he have been hiding the memory of Sapphira having the reverse-world device from everyone, including him? It didn't seem possible, and yet his master wasn't lying. _

_Malik nodded. "You know what to do."_

_Lucario did know what to do, though it would take years of travel. It was his mission and he would complete it no matter what._

But where first? The only way to see from the reverse world into this world as through reflections or strange phenomena. The sooner lucario started traveling, the sooner he could try every reflective surface to find Sapphira. "I'm coming Sapphira." He swore adamantly. "No matter where you are, I'll find you."

3:50:57

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3:50:59

3:51:00

Yusuf walked into the stone cold room. The crimson light created shadows that danced on the walls in varieties of patterns and shapes. The floor, filled with cracks, still acted as though it could carry a mountain. But Yusuf had no time to wonder why that was. Only one person in the room held his interest. And that man was still walking around the odd contraption with his pocket watch in his hand. The elderly man looked up at Yusuf's entrance and smiled. "Welcome back Yusuf. Personally, I wasn't expecting a second visit from you, but the time device never lies."

"Of course it doesn't." Yusuf's tone was like an avalanche, delivering cold hard dread to the atmosphere.

The timekeeper frowned disapprovingly. "You seem upset."

Yusuf refused to contain his frustration. "You're damn right I'm upset. Why didn't you tell me that Sapphira would die?"

"I only told you what would definitely come to pass. Some things of the future are written in stone, but Sapphira's death was uncertain."

"Don't! Don't you dare say her name! You should have known something. You should have told me everything you know. You should have worked that machine to death until you found out what would have happened to Sapphira. I could have saved her."

"Are you so certain of that? Are you claiming to be so powerful that you can change the future, and for that matter, the past as well?"

Yusuf glowered at the timekeeper. "Shut it! You know nothing of this matter. It should have been me holding that switch so that they could have escaped. I could have saved her."

"At the cost of your own life? Then all of the future would have changed. If you had died, who would have been able to fight lucario on Village Bridge so that Malik could kill Dracous? You see, we all have a part to play, and Sapphira played hers."

"That's how you justify it! It was fate?" The sound of Yusuf's voice echoed off the walls. "She could be alive today and you simply call it fate that she died?"

"Yusuf…" the timekeeper started. He sighed heavily before continuing, "You couldn't have saved her. She had a choice and she chose you. She died so that you could live. There was nothing you could do to save her."

The realization of the news struck Yusuf hard, harder than when he had seen the terrorist fortress engulfed in countless explosions with Sapphira still inside. His legs gave way and he crumpled to the floor, bowed his head, and for the first time since Sapphira's death expressed his grief with great howls and moans. The tears he had fought back now came springing forth in great streams. He sobbed and wept, creating rivers of tears in the cracks of the floor. His howls sounded akin to those of wounded beasts in the dead of night, moaning their distresses to the great emptiness surrounding them.

As he continued crying, the timekeeper walked forward and knelt in front of him, completely disregarding his job of watching the device. He placed a hand on one of Yusuf's shivering shoulders. "Yusuf, you have faced many trials and have seen many horrors these past six months. You've have felt more than any man was ever meant to feel. And you have made sacrifices no one should have to make."

Yusuf looked up to reveal a face red and wet from mourning. "How is that supposed to be comforting?"

The timekeeper shook his head and locked eyes with Yusuf. "I cannot offer comfort. All I can do is offer advice to guide your footsteps."

"Then…then what do you want to tell me?"

"Simply this: do not fear the day when wars erupt. Days like that are bound to come and it will have to be the responsibility of the people to endure its horrors. Instead, you should fear one thing. Fear the day when humanity becomes so used to war that it becomes insensitive to its horrors. Such a day is coming, when mankind will look at war with satisfaction and not regret. Fear that day when it comes."

Yusuf sniffled. "When will that day come?"

"Soon, regrettably. However, you can make a difference rather than mope."

"How?"

"Through Sapphira. Do not let her sacrifice be a vain act of courage. Through her, reach out to the people."

Yusuf sniffled again. "But…but how do you go on? How do you continue on the path you're on, knowing where you've been and what you've done? How do you reconcile the past?"

"I would be lying if I said I had all the answers. I do not know. All I can tell you is that you just have to keep moving, always looking forward and only glancing behind. Now come on, on your feet."

With the timekeeper's help, Yusuf stood up and slowly shuffled over to the odd device. "It's stopped moving." Yusuf observed.

The timekeeper walked up next to him. "Indeed it has, for now."

"Does that mean that it's all over?"

Strangely, the timekeeper laughed. "Ha ha ha. No. Absolutely not. Nothing ever ends. Whether you like it or not, a story continues on. No story has an end. Look at this watch." The timekeeper held up the aged pocket watch for Yusuf to study. "Time counts up. It always has and it always will. Stories can never end because of that. Time will count up until the end of time, and who knows when that will be. So you see Yusuf, nothing really ends."

"Especially you. You're what, pushing four thousand years old?"

The timekeeper smirked. "For some reason, time doesn't touch me. Quite regrettable too."

"Why is that? You're immortal. You have the rare privilege of watching history unfold before your eyes and looking forward always to what the next day will bring."

"Ah, but you forget one thing. Time is natural for every human. It's a part of daily life. The day we are born and the day we die, it all depends on how time turns. I will never feel what it truly means to feel the effects of time and death because I can never die. This immortality is a curse more than anything. So I will continue to look forward to the day when time ends and I can finally taste what it is like to die."

Yusuf thought on the words of the timekeeper until realizing what time it was. "I really must be going now."

"Yes of course. But where will you go?"

Yusuf had already started walking to the stairwell. He stopped at the threshold, and thought up a quick response. "I do not know. Only time will tell I guess." With that, Yusuf marched down the stairs to the bottom of the castle tower where latios was waiting for him.

The timekeeper studied the still device. Yes, he thought. Yusuf would be okay. He would live his life and touch the lives of those around him. To his complete shock, suddenly, the arms and gears of the device started to turn with grinding noises. The weaving parts of the hovering globe came to life and started to spin around each other rapidly. The timekeeper studied his pocket watch and the device intently, looking for the hidden meanings. Within seconds, multiple images appeared in the weaving bands of the globe. A lucario wandering through the wilderness with a mission. Many people in their homelands enjoying lives of peace. A lone individual on a latios traveling over oceans and continents in search of something sacred. But the gears kept turning, the arms continued to spin, and the parts weaved in ceaseless motion. More images appeared before the timekeeper's eyes. A crowning ceremony. Many battles. A great castle rising from beneath the land. Where was the pivotal picture? There! An image of a group of men standing in the shadows, waiting for decades for one day. What could it all possibly mean?

3:56:57

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3:57:00

Naval commander Deiderich stood atop the cliff overlooking the famed Pokemon League. The night of morning could not be penetrated by human eyes. Despite this, commander Deiderich smiled menacingly. Every piece had moved perfectly. High Commander Dracous had fulfilled his purpose perfectly. Now the whole of Unova was in turmoil and shock. While they struggled to seek a new normality and rebuild what had been destroyed, the next chapter would begin undisturbed. Now people knew how far people's evil and pokemon would carry them. The crater in Castelia City was testament to that. Now they would feel uncertainty about people and pokemon. When given the vital choice, uncertainty would turn to fear and they would follow in droves. All of Unova would bow, and then the whole world. Once every regional government bowed in submission and every person surrendered, a new world would be created existing solely for him.

Six other men in long flowing robes stood a distance behind him. Another man escorted by two guards stood off to the side. A third guard in a lieutenant's garb walked up to commander Deiderich. He saluted and delivered a report to the motionless commander. "Commander Deiderich, all inintial reports state that terrorist cells in the Hoenn Region, the Sinnoh Region, and the Unova Region are in turmoil and the upper tier of leadership has completely dissolved."

"Excellent," was all Commander Deiderich said. He gestured to the young man standing off to the side with his guards. The young man obediently approached and stood alongside of commander Deiderich. The commander however, remained focused on the view before him. Without looking at the young man, he said, "Look at that." He gestured at the lands of Unova. "All of those fair lands before us, ravaged by war and death."

The young man nodded in agreement. Commander Deiderich continued. "These past ten months, we have seen how humans have enslaved and used pokemon for their evil ends. Terrorists have used the sacred power of pokemon and defiled it by turning it upon their fellow man in atrocious acts of aggression." Turning, he faced the young man beside him. "I have a proposition for you."

The young man turned to face Deiderich. Though no light remained in the sky at this early hour, they could still make out some of the features in each other's face. "What is it?"

"I want to give you the chance of a lifetime to change the world in ways no one has ever dreamed possible."

"How shall I do that?"

"With your power and skill, you will be the leader of all of Unova in this time of great crisis. You will unite the peoples of Unova under one banner and one symbol with one ideal and one truth, all of which will never pass away. And you will break the chains that hold all pokemon and free them from their captivity."

"Is it possible?"

"Yes. Out there, people who enslave pokemon and defile their sacred power are the villains. For those villains, a hero is required to free the captives. You can be that hero."

"How."

"Only with great power. And that kind of power is only bestowed upon the sacred dragons of this land. Take the one who chooses you and fight the darkness of lies with the light of truth. Unite the people with your power and the guiding lights of truth and ideals. And when all of Unova bows before your throne and accepts you as king, all pokemon will be freed from their human overlords. The days when humans took advantage of pokemon's power will come to an end. The world will be changed forever. Accept this proposition and be crowned king of Unova."

The young man was silent in his many thoughts for a while. Closing his eyes, he meditated on the future, on what could be and should be. Opening his eyes, he was met with the darkness of night, but with a resolution he was sure would bring about a brighter dawn. "I accept your proposition and your invitation to be crowned king of Unova."

Commander Deiderich smiled. "Excellent. The ceremony will take place shortly. Soon, you will change the world beyond anyone's comprehension. Not even the champion will be able to stand in your way."

The young man bowed in respect. "Thank you for this commander Deiderich."

"Nay. My name is no longer Deiderich." The commander ripped off the multiple ribbons, insignia, and other identifying markers. Tossing them to the ground, he asserted, "From now on, I am one of the seven sages who will help you in your blessed reign over Unova. From now on, I will be known as Ghetsis."

"Very well, Ghetsis."

"Now go. The other sages will prepare you for your role. After you are crowned, the whole world will know your name. The name of Lord N will be known far and wide."

Lord N bowed and departed with his two guards and the six sages. The final guard remained. Ghetsis cracked a smile and released a low chuckle. "Finally. The last pieces of my marvelous plan have moved into position. Now the net pieces are ready to move forward. But first, we need a base of operations." He stamped his foot upon the rocky soil beneath his feet. "Here! We shall build here, overcome by the shadow of the Pokemon League, only to rise to overshadow the world."

Three mysterious individuals appeared out of thin air around Ghetsis. Ghetsis turned to face them. "Ah, my faithful shadow warriors. No longer will you wear those dark uniforms of terrorists. Now you will take on new garbs and new identities. You will now be known as the Shadow Triad."

The shadow warriors bowed respectfully and in gratitude for their new name. Ghetsis continued. "Our new Lord N will need protection from the forces of discord and lies that permeate the world today. You three will personally defend him from everything that assails him. I trust you three to fulfill this task." They bowed again respectfully. "Excellent. Now depart from me." The Shadow Triad disappeared once again into thin air.

"What other orders do you have my Lord Ghetsis?" The patiently waiting soldier asked.

"Ah. Soon, armies will be created and control of Unova will be wrested away from the government and into my hand. But first, we need a symbol."

"A symbol my Lord?"

"Yes. A symbol that will define us to the world. One that will lead us into the future. One that the world will not soon forget." He held out his right hand. "Two sacred dragons dwell within Unova. Reshiram, the bender of fire," he held out his left hand, "and Zekrom, the bender of lightning. Fire and lightning. The fire of truth and the lightning of ideals." Bringing his hands together until they met in front of his face, he stated, "combination. When fire and lightning meet…Plasma." The last word was a barely audible whisper.

"My Lord?" the soldier asked. "What did you say?"

"Plasma. It is perfect. The combination of fire and lightning, truth and ideals, will soon drive us forward to the end when the entire world will fall under my control. It will be a symbol recognized and feared in all regions."

"Yes my lord." The soldier shouted before scurrying away. Ghetsis looked at where the soldier used to be standing before noticing the shadowed individual standing off to the side, unnoticed until now.

The shadowed individual walked forward. "Malik is dead."

"Truly? Is he really dead?" Ghetsis asked with great anticipation.

"Yes."

Ghetsis breathed a deep sigh of relief. "At last, he dies. Finally, we can move forward with the grand plan."

"Negative."

Ghetsis looked at his companion with a look of confusion. "Why not? Malik is dead. What else do we need to wait for?"

"We are still going to move forward with the original plan. Can you do that?"

"Yes. But why do we wait like this? The Aura Guardians are diminished and the Order of Assassins died with Dracous and Malik. Nothing else stands in the way now."

"That doesn't excuse the need for careful planning. We will wait."

"We've been waiting for decades." Ghetsis grumbled.

"Silence!" the stranger shouted. "You may have been accepted onto the council, but you are nothing but an underling, an expendable piece of the puzzle. You will play your part just as Dracous did and nothing else. You will leave the planning of this entire operation to those worthy of it. Am I understood?"

Ghetsis quivered with genuine fear under the stare of the shadowed stranger. "I understand and will obey."

"Good. Then continue with the plan at your discretion."

Ghetsis looked out at the Unova Region for but a second before looking back. The stranger had disappeared. With an exasperated grumble, he looked back at the region, plans rolling in his mind. If he was to continue as per the original plan, then that's how it would go. Thinking back to when he was talking the soldier before the rude interruption, he meditated on the name he had chosen for the operation. "Plasma." He mused. "That will be our name, our identity. Plasma. Team Plasma."

3:59:57

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3:59:59

4:00:00


	25. Chapter 25

Teaser from the Epic Sequel, _Storm Clouds_

The following takes place between 12 A.M. and 1 A.M.

Brian had been a storm chaser for most of his adult life. Even as a child, when all the other children ran off for shelter when a storm arrived, he would stand off from a distance and watch the storm broil above his head. He had even trained his eyes not to blink when lightning arced across the sky from one cloud to another. One day living in the flats of Unova brought him face-to-face with his first tornado. He watched as the cyclone dipped from the clouds and struck the ground, moving steadily away from him. While his entire town ran for the storm shelter, he found himself running after the fleeing tornado. That day made him a storm chaser. He wouldn't stop chasing storms across five different regions since that day. Today was no different. It was also his thirtieth birthday.

The black clouds loomed formidably above in the sky, only broken up by streaks of bluish white lightning. Thunder boomed and growled like a chained beast straining to break free. Massive oaks and aspens on either side of the road bent under the ferocious wind that broke branches and sent them flying into opposing traffic. With a massive crack, an old seventy foot oak gave way under the pressure of the wind and crashed into the road. Brian's quick reflexes brought his car safely around the fallen tree with barely a scratch.

Softball-sized hail struck the window shield with hard smacks, but the glass never gave way. It was specially built for such conditions and extremely expensive. Starting out, Brian remembered how he had to beg scientists for grants just to pay off the debts on the windows of his car. The "car" in question was built like a tank for storms like these. Inside, he and two other storm enthusiasts like himself were wrapped in 1.5 inches of steel. One storm enthusiast sat in shotgun where he studied the computer screen in front of him and shouted directions to the rest of the team. The other sat behind them surrounded by more computer screens where he also operated the communications.

The one sitting in shotgun, Zachary, shouted, "Storm cell located on the river, one click north of Marvelous Bridge!"

Brian smiled. This was it, he thought to himself. They were two clicks from Marvelous Bridge and were already feeling the effects of the storm which was only 2.24 clicks away from their current position. This was the anomaly. Without turning his gaze away from the road ahead, he shouted, "Benjamin, what are the others saying?"

Benjamin, sitting in the back, shouted back, "They're seeing the same thing from the other side! Confirming storm cell one click north of Marvelous Bridge and three clicks from their current position!"

So we're getting their first, thought Brian. Between paying off the window shield and maintaining the tank, he had been forced to join a small team of other storm chasers that operated throughout the world for scientific research. They helped pay off the debts, especially in the current economic crisis in Unova since the reign of terror – as some people had termed it – a year ago. Two recessions in the past year, thousands on strike, and rioting crowds. The government was struggling to keep its head above water through the crises. Now with all these violent storms as of late, the economic situation probably wouldn't improve.

"Send them our information! Confirming Storm cell .9 clicks north of Marvelous Bridge and 2.23 clicks from present position!"

"They want you to reply!"

"Roger!" Brian reached over to the dash where a radio attached to a wire was attached with Velcro. Pushing the button on the side, he yelled, "This is Brian Summers! I'm within two clicks of Marvelous Bridge and in range of the storm cell! Confirming storm cell .9 clicks north of Marvelous Bridge! Requesting permission to engage!"

"Ten four on the info Summers!" came the loud reply through the speaker. "You sure this is another anomaly!"

"Affirmative!" Brian shouted back. "The radius and destructive force of this storm is quite unusual for this region! Requesting permission to engage and investigate!"

"Roger that! You have permission to engage birthday boy!"

"Roger! Summers out!" Brian attached the mike to the Velcro and stepped harder on the pedal. "Alright boys! We're going in!" Everyone else in the tank held onto something as Brian drove them faster down the deserted highway towards the bridge. At night, usually big lights illuminated the streets and the bridge ahead for safety reasons, but the storm had knocked out the electricity in the area. Now with the high beams on, Brian gunned it all the way to the bridge. Elevation changed slightly as the highway rose above the ground, held up by massive concrete and steel pillars.

The road leveled off and there stood Marvelous Bridge before them. The massive suspension bridge stretched over the massive Eastern River that, along with the Western River, split the Unova Region into clearly defined thirds. As such, Marvelous Bridge, along with the two other bridges crossing the Eastern River, was a major source of commerce. The massive structure was engineered to withstand great abuse from weather and from decades of use by truckers. But now, the bridge stood desolate and darkened in the face of a storm unlike any seen in this part of the Unova Region.

Brian didn't hesitate a second and drove the tank onto the bridge. The hail suddenly stopped falling in the area, but the wind seemed to increase. Suddenly, a dark shape sprinted past his high beam headlights. Brian stomped on the brakes, causing Ben and Zachary to lurch forward uncomfortably. "What was that?" Brian asked.

"What was what?" replied Ben. "Why'd you stop?"

"Something ran in front of the headlights. It looked like a person."

"Must have been a large piece of foliage that looked like a person," answered Zachary. "Come on Brian, we have a job to do."

"Roger. We're close enough here. Let's go." Pulling a lever, four massive harpoon-like arms extended from the sides and dug into the bridge for extra support while the entire tank dropped down on its suspension to prevent strong gusts of wind from flipping it over. Opening the door, Brian jumped out and was nearly blown over by the wind. "Zachary, get film! Ben, set up sensors! I'm going to get a closer look!" While the other guys struggled in the wind to set up their equipment, Brian ran forward on the bridge.

About a hundred yards away from the other guys, he stood and watched the storm. Even in the darkness of the early morning, he could make out the features of the storm. Lightning flashed every minute or so, producing enough light for him to study the cloud formations. Inside, he was in awe of the destructive force of nature. During the reign of terror, he had been out of the region studying tropical storms in Hoenn and Johto while Unova was experiencing the weirdest winter storm ever recorded. Theories as to how it happened were all over the place, from a massive population explosion among Unova's ice-type pokemon to global-cooling.

Lightning flashed closer and closer to the bridge, sometimes even hitting the arches of the bridge that held the suspension cables. Thankfully, the design of the bridge conducted the electricity away from anyone standing on the bridge, like Brian. He continued to watch the storm when suddenly, a bolt of lightning shot out of the clouds and right at him. This lightning didn't arc away to any of the metal arches that would have normally attracted the lightning. It shot straight and true at _him_, neither stopping nor bending. Time seemed to slow as Brian's eyes widened in the face of this symbol that he adored in awe. For the first time in his life, he shut his eyes and waited for the burning shock of the lightning. But it never arrived. Instead, he felt the shockwave of a massive explosion above his head cause him to fall back onto his back. His eyes snapped open and a figure stood in between him and the storm with arms outstretched.

Suddenly, the wind stopped blowing as hard and the lightning stopped flashing. The black clouds in the sky started to shuffle and split up. Soon, stars and the moon appeared in the sky where clouds used to block the view. The storm completely cleared from the area without a trace. Brian looked at his savior who had suddenly jumped away. He looked around and saw him on the edge of the bridge overlooking the river below. "Wait!" He stood up and approached the figure. Now did he notice the inhuman features, like the tail, and the jackal-like snout, and the spikes on its paws. "Wait! Who are you!"

Without turning, the figure spoke, though it wasn't quite natural. Brian heard the voice clear as day, but it wasn't with his ears but in his head. Telepathy? "Brian Summers. That's your name, right?" The voice was masculine and very gruff.

"Yes." Brian replied with his mouth. "How did you know?"

"You've stumbled onto something that is beyond your ability to comprehend. You should leave."

Brian looked around, confused. "What do you mean? The storm?"

"There's a storm coming Brian Summers."

Brian looked up into the sky only to see nothing but stars. "The storm's already passed." He looked down and started, suddenly staring into the steely gaze of a pokemon standing right in front of him.

"A storm's coming Brian Summers. You'd best be ready."

Brian stuttered until finding his voice. "I-I've survived a lot of storms in my lifetime."

"This isn't a storm you can simply wait out and survive. This storm will touch the lives of every single person on this planet."

Brian Summers's mind raced at that statement. How large would a storm have to be to cover the entire face of the planet? It wasn't physically possible, due to changing conditions and wind patterns. "What are you talking about?"

"You need to be ready." The strange pokemon turned to leave.

"Wait a second. Tell me more. How do I know you're telling the truth?"

The pokemon stopped. "You don't. But tell me something: in the past few months, how many strange weather patterns have you seen?"

Brian's mind looked back to all of the times in Unova he had been on call to investigate odd weather patterns. "At least a dozen in the past few months. Why?"

"Those are only the first waves' crashing against the shore before one even bigger comes crashing in next."

"Are you talking about a physical storm?"

"Was the blizzard during the reign of terror natural or unnatural?"

Brian thought about the question for a moment. He had studied the research and evidence, even the crazy fairy tales told by people who had survived. They had said it was a single pokemon who had created the blizzard before it was defeated. The story was simply crazy and had no standing in science. Who would really believe that a bright light shot up into the sky and everything melted? But then again… "Are you saying that the blizzard was unnatural?"

"Yes. And now a storm greater than the reign of terror is coming. You must ready yourself and the people."

A shout from the tank caused Brian to look and see his companions running to him with flashlights. Turning back to the pokemon, he asked, "How do you know this?" But the pokemon had disappeared. Brian looked around for it, but it had disappeared.

Turning around, he saw Ben and Zachary rush up to him with concerned looks on their faces. "What was that? The storm suddenly disappeared?"

Brian tried to organize everything that had happened in his mind, but failed to do so. "I-I don't know what happened."

12:19:57

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12:19:59

12:20:00

Coming Winter of 2012 to Spring of 2013


End file.
